This ham gave us 2 lunches, a dinner and pizza topping! When you divide the price by four it works out really reasonable. There is something special about making your own ham and we bought this for Easter and have only just got round to using it. This is based on Gordon Ramsay’s Ham in his Christmas book and it is delicious the aromatic’s really penetrate the flesh and you get the sticky sweet bit’s on the outside. What is there not to love.

Ingredients

• 1 smoked or unsmoked gammon (ours was 1.1kg)
• 1 cinnamon stick broken into pieces
• 1 tsp peppercorns
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 whole cloves

For the Glaze

• 150ml maple syrup
• 50ml runny honey
• 2 tbsp mustard
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce

Method

1. Put the gammon in a very large pan and cover with cold water. Add the spices and bay. Bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for around 1 hr 30 mins, topping up the water level with boiling water, if necessary. Scoop off any scum that rises to the top every now and then.
2. Carefully pour the liquid away (I kept it for making soup), then let the ham cool a little while you heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Lift the ham into a large roasting tin, then cut away the skin leaving behind an even layer of fat ( I didn’t need too as such good quality gammon) Score the fat all over in a criss-cross pattern.
3. Mix the glaze ingredients in a jug. Pour half over the fat, roast for 15 mins, then pour over the rest and return to the oven for another 15 mins, basting with the pan juices every 5 minutes as it bakes. Turn the pan around a few times during cooking so the fat colours evenly. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15 mins before carving.