[prev] [thread] [next] [lurker] [Date index for 2005/11/28]
I had a craving for baked ham last night (as you do) so I bought a 2.5kg smoked ham off the bone from Sainsburys I mixed together 2 fingers of 15 year old Laphroig (which, believe it or not was actually the 'worst' whisky I had in the house and also a deliberate choice for reasons I'll elaborate on later), a couple of table spoons of djion mustard and a mixture of maple syrup and some clear honey (to make the mixture stickier). I shaved the skin off the ham but left the fat which I scored into diamond shapes. Then I put the ham in a roasting tin and rubbed on the glaze all over the fat and a little on the ends. By the time I'd rubbed a few times I had about a third left. Then I stuck a enough watre in the bottom of the roasting tin to bring it to a depth of about 0.5-1cm, covered it in a foil tent and whacked it in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. About 2 hours in I took it out, poured on the rest of the glaze, topped up the water (with boiling water from a kettle) and then put it back in. After about 4 hours I took the foil tent off and left it in there for another half an hour before taking it out to rest for 20 minutes. It was ... divine. Seriously. Moist and the whisky imparted a noticeable smokiness which was offset by the tang of the dijon and the nutty sweetness of the maple syrup. The 2.5kg ham would probably serve 5-6 people, which surprised me - the three of us were very hungy but with the pommes dauphinois and the broccoli cooked with chilli and garlic we were all pretty full and there was still half left. A note on gravy - the glaze and the juice and the water combined to make a fantastic sauce which I just poured from the tin (after scraping the bottom of course) with no need to add flour or anything. When I checked the jug this morning it had slightly jellified but no fat had seperated out. A note on the dauphinois - I followed Mum's advice (cheers Mum) and simmered the sliced potatos for about 10 minute actually in the cream/milk mix with the sliced onions. I think I simmered a little too, err, vigourously because it fomaed but it seemd to go ok. I actually only had the potatos in for about about forty minutes to an hour which is a little too short but they tasted fine. Simon
Generated at 00:03 on 29 Nov 2005 by mariachi 0.41