I recently read about the Root Source Challenge where that challenge was to come up with a recipe including Maple Syrup. As soon as I read it I started having dreams of crepes with bacon smothered with maple syrup, then thought of a gammon I had sitting in the fridge that I was planning to boil in coke (I know Nigella has a ham cooked in coke recipe but I didn't know about this until after I'd been doing it myself.... great minds think alike and all that!), so decided to twist and develop this idea a little more and came up with my entry for the challenge.


Maple glazed Ham

Serves 2-3

Ingredients
750g gammon
1 litre coke
Whole cloves
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
2.5 tbsp maple syrup

Recipe
1. Place the gammon joint into a pot that it fits into with not too much extra room. Pour in the coke until the meat is covered and boil on a medium heat for 1 hour.
2. Mix the whole grain mustard and maple syrup together to make the glaze
3. Remove the gammon from the coke and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

4. Remove any skin that is on the meat and slice a criss cross pattern across the top. Push a whole clove into each "x" made by the criss cross pattern.

5. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Place the gammon in an oven proof dish or a foil lined baking tray. Pour the glaze on top of the joint, making sure it is covered. Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the glaze is golden.

6. When done, leave to cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.



A much tastier dinner for my palate after last night's salmon!

I had watched Nigella Lawson's Christmas show, "Season's Eatings", and was drooling as I watched her making this ham. However I was worried about this recipe slightly as she had used a 5.4kg ham and I was planning to only cook a 0.75kg gammon, so fixing the times and scaling down the ingredients took some calculation and guesstimation and creativity. And it all turned out beautifully!

Ginger glazed gammon


Serves 2-3

Ingredients
750g gammon
1 litre ginger ale (I used light ginger ale, can never be too careful with the calories at Christmas!)
Marinade
1/4 cup marmalade (65ml)
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp whole grain mustard
2 tbsp soft dark brown sugar
a pinch of ground cloves

Recipe
1. Place the gammon in a pot and pour in the ginger ale (you can top up with water to cover the gammon). Bring to the boil, then reduce heat so it will bubble gently for 1-1.5 hrs.
2. In a bowl mix all the ingredients for the marinade (this can be done the day before).
3. Remove the gammon from the ginger ale and place in a foil lined baking tray or in an oven dish. Cover in the marinade and place in the oven at 190C for about 20-25 minutes.
4. Serve hot or cold.

I've had some in a sandwich already, just gorgeous!

PS if you're looking for the difference between ham and gammon, check here