Gammon doesn't have to be just for Christmas - it is such a yummy thing to make which you can eat slowly over a week in a multitude of ways. For instance, it goes beautifully in an omelette, or a in quiche or with a salad.
I used a 2kg gammon for this recipe, but you can adjust it according to whatever size you have. I have used a deboned uncooked gammon here.
You will need:
1 gammon, deboned and uncooked
Black peppercorns
A few bay leaves
1.5 litres of boiling water
1 large onion
Whole cloves, or ground cloves. I used a spice which I will explain below.
Place the gammon, fat side up, in an oven dish.
Slice the onion and arrange the pieces all around the gammon.
Then pop in a few bay leaves, a tablespoon or so of whole black peppercorns and a few whole cloves.
I found this Chinese 5 Spice which contains a mixture of cloves, cinnamon, fennel, star aniseed and szechuan. It gives the gammon a lovely flavour. I used about a teaspoon of this spice too.
Lastly, pour the boiling water around the gammon so it is sitting in a bath.
Then, cover it with tin foil, shiny side towards the gammon.
Bake it in an oven at 160'C. To work out the cooking time, you need 30 minutes per 500g of gammon, plus an extra 25 munites. So, for my 2kg gammon I need to do 30min x 4 + 25 = 2 hours and 25 minutes.
When the gammon is cooked, allow it to cool in the juices which it was cooked in. Ideally, let it cool overnight, but if you are in a bit more of a rush, an hour or two will do.
Remove the gammon from the juices and cut the string off it. Try not to damage the skin while you are removing it. Then, carefully peel off the brown skin of the gammon to leave a layer of fat behind.
Using s sharp knife, score the fat layer on top into a criss-cross diamond shape.
Using the same foil which you baked the gammon with, line your oven dish (to protect it from the sticky glaze).
For the glaze, mix together:
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 tablespoon honey
10ml ground ginger
5ml ground cloves (or the same Chinese spice as above, if your can get it)
10ml lemon juice
Paint the glaze over the diamond cut fat, and make sure it goes in between the lines.
Bake the gammon, uncovered, for 30 minutes at 180'C to caramelise the glaze.
If you are a fan of crackling, keep the skin which you peeled off earlier. Slice it into 1cm slices.
Sprinkle a bit of sea salt all over the meat and allow it to rest while the glaze is happening.
The grill the crackling strips. It works best grilling them as low down in the oven as possible. This allows for maximum crackle, and minimum burn.
