Gammon style

There's nothing my in-laws like less than a bit of gammon at Christmas - as I discovered a few years ago when I replaced the turkey with a pig. But we are having it again this year, served cold with my cranberry, orange and ginger compote.

Glazed gammon

I had a trial run today - a 6lb (2.75kg) gammon from the local farm which I cooked in ginger beer before glazing it with marmalade, cloves and brown sugar.

Gammon cooked in ginger beer with marmalade glaze

Wash the gammon under some cold water, then put it in a big pan with 3 bottles of ginger beer and enough water to cover it completely. Bring it to the boil, then transfer it - with the hot liquid - into a slow cooker and cook on medium for about 4 hours. (You could carry on cooking it on the hob, but then you would be tied to the house for several hours).  It's cooked when a meat thermometer stabbed into it reads 71 degrees. Take it out of the slow cooker and pre-heat your oven to 220/gas 7. Meanwhile, make the glaze by mixing together 175ml marmalade, 1 tablespoon English mustard, 50g brown sugar and half a teaspoon of ground cloves. Cut off the skin, leaving a layer of fat on the joint. Spoon on the glaze and pop it in the oven for about 20 minutes until it's nicely brown.

You may want to score the fat with a sharp knife to make a diamond lattice pattern and stud it with a few whole cloves before putting on the glaze.