Ginger and Soy Glazed Christmas Ham

Serves 8-10

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 5 hours

Ingredients

Ham:

4kg boneless unsmoked middle cut gammon

2 sticks of celery

1 carrot

1 banana shallot

2 cloves of garlic

3 bay leaves

Few thyme sprigs and rosemary

2 star anise

10 black peppercorns

Glaze:

60ml Ginger wine, optional

60ml soy sauce

2 Star anise

5 cloves

2 tbsp Orange marmelade

1 tsp Chinese 5 spice

40g dark brown sugar

Method

1. Take your meat out of the fridge and bring it up to room temperature before you cook it.

2. Chop the carrots and celery into large chunks and slice the shallot in half; no need to peel it. Put these, along with the garlic, herbs and spices, in your largest pan and place the gammon on top.

3. Cover with cold water and bring up to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover with a tight fitting lid. Simmer for 3 hours, turning once and skimming off any fat that rises to the top.

4. Remove to a deep baking dish and remove the skin, leaving a nice covering of fat on the meat. Score the fat all over in a diamond criss-cross fashion and set aside while you make the glaze.

5. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

6. Strain the stock from the pot through a sieve into a clean pan and discard the vegetables. Add the ginger beer to the stock and reduce to around 250ml. Skimming any fat off again.

7. Add all the remaining ingredients for the glaze and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Remove around 4 tablespoons and set aside for serving.

8. Brush a couple of tablespoons of glaze all over the ham and roast it in the oven for around 1 hour. The glaze is a bit thin, so you will need to glaze the ham every 5-10 minutes through out the cooking time to build up the delicious sticky layer.

9. Allow the meat to cool in the baking dish before removing to a serving platter. Brush or drizzling the remaining glaze all over and slice to desired thickness.