The sticky and sweet glaze gives brilliant caramelisation and flavour to the ham

INGREDIENTS

Glaze
½ cup marmalade*
½ cup soft brown sugar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
¼ cup cider or apple cider vinegar

1 large ham on the bone (ours was 8kg)
Dried whole cloves

METHOD

To make the glaze, put the marmalade or jam in a small saucepan along with the brown sugar, Dijon mustard and the cider or vinegar. Put over a medium-low heat and stir gently until the sugar dissolves. Simmer until the glaze has thickened slightly.

Heat the oven to 160°C. Line the base and sides of a large roasting dish with compostable foil and baking paper.

Remove the skin from the ham by carefully cutting around the skin at the shank end, leaving about 6cm on the bone. Slide your fingers under the skin to loosen it, leaving a good coating of the fat. Make long vertical cuts at close intervals just through the fat. Stud with cloves. Note, we used a lot of cloves but it looks great too if you use less and spread them out more.

Put the ham in the prepared dish and wrap the exposed shank bone with a piece of baking paper and tie to secure with kitchen string. Brush or spoon the glaze over the ham then put in the oven.

For hot ham – you will need 15-20 minutes per kilogram.
For a cold-glazed ham, cook at 180°C for 30-45 minutes until the glaze has caramelised.

Serve ham with a decorated shank if you wish. Wrap a piece of natural baking paper or brown paper around the shank, and tie with kitchen string. Make up a bunch of herbs and tie, then tie to the paper.

Tip – Stud the cloves between or close to the vertical cuts to prevent them from slipping during oven glazing.

* We love a good quality orange marmalade for this job but, really, any mamalade will do. A really bitter grapefruit might be a little on the tart side (in our opinion) but it's your ham so go with what you love on your toast and you can't go wrong!

If you're a Christmas ham first-timer and would like to know more - click through to our Christmas Ham 101