Baked Ham with Cider, Mustard and Apple Sauce

For those of us who eat pork, there's something very yummy about a decently cooked, moist, juicy gammon joint. I got this recipe from this book and it worked well enough that I will now try more from the same source.

1 joint of ham
1 peeled onion
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
1 bay leaf
8 whole black peppercorns

glaze
2-3 tbsp Demerara sugar
1 tsp mustard powder
12 cloves
250 ml orange juice

sauce
1 Bramley cooking apple, peeled, cored, sliced
300 ml cider
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
2 tsp butter

Soak the joint for 12 hours in two changes of water [I soaked it only for four hours; really unless it is very salty that should be enough].

Place in a large pot, add veg, bay leaf and peppercorns and cover with cold water. Bring to simmering point, simmer for 25 mins per 450g.

Leave to cool a little in its liquid.

Lift out and remove the skin, leaving the fat. Mix the sugar and mustard powder and press all over the skin. [I actually used wet mustard for this phase too, having no mustard powder to hand; not ideal, but it worked OK.]

Cut a lattice into the fat with a sharp knife, and press a clove into each intersection. Place the pan in a roasting tin surrounded by the orange juice, and bake for 20 mins or until the glaze has caramelised.

Sauce: cook the apple in the cider until soft, beat it with a spoon until smooth, add the mustard and sugar, and season to taste.

The biggest problem with the recipe is that it implies you can leave cooking the sauce until the joint is safely in the oven. In fact 20 mins was barely enough to get the apple to soften properly; I should have started it before taking the ham out of the water.

Having said that, gosh, it was very yummy indeed. I served it with potatoes, parsnips and carrots, and everyone seemed to like it very much, including even little U (who however did not accept any of the sauce).

One thought on “Baked Ham with Cider, Mustard and Apple Sauce

  1. Thanks for the number crunching, very interesting!

    I’m very pleased that Pat Cadigan finally won a Hugo (and to finally find myself agreeing with Hugo voters in a category *g*).

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