HAM KNUCKLE RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Take your meat out of the fridge and bring it up to room temperature before you cook it.
  2. Place the gammon in your largest pot, then strip in the woody herbs and add the bay. Roughly chop the celery and carrots, peel and quarter the onion, and squash the garlic cloves, then add it all to the pot with the chilli and peppercorns.
  3. Cover with water, bring to the boil, then pop the lid on and simmer gently for 2 hours, or until the meat is tender, turning it halfway, topping up with water occasionally and skimming away any excess fat.
  4. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Transfer the gammon to a large roasting tray (save a little of the stock for later), then carefully remove the skin and discard, keeping the fat on the meat. Score the fat in a criss-cross fashion, then drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil. Roast the gammon for 20 to 30 minutes, or until lightly golden.
  5. To make the glaze, spoon the marmalade into a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat, pour in the red wine and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
  6. Add the spices and bay, strip in the clementine zest using a speed-peeler, then pour in the pineapple juice, saving the fruit for later. Allow to bubble away and reduce by half, then switch off – it should be thick and syrupy.
  7. When the roasting time’s up, take the tray out of the oven, then arrange pineapple rings over the gammon, securing them with a few cloves. Arrange the rest of the pineapple in and around the tray, then pour the glaze over the meat.
  8. Spoon ½ a ladleful of the gammon stock into the pan you used to make the glaze, scrape up all the sticky bits from the bottom and pour into the tray, ensuring all the gammon and pineapple is coated. Roast for a further 20 minutes, or until beautifully glazed, basting with the glaze every 5 minutes.
  9. Remove the glazed ham to a serving platter, ready to slice hot, cold or at room temperature. Pour any remaining glaze from the tray all over the ham, and arrange the pineapple slices around it.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the ham on a wire rack or trivet set over a large roasting tin, pour in 480ml warm water and cover tightly with foil. Put the ham in the oven, immediately reduce the heat to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and cook for 5 hrs.
• Meanwhile, put the maple syrup, apricot jam and brown sugar in a heavy-based pan and stir in 50ml water. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.
• Take the ham out of the oven. Increase the temperature to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Open the foil, being careful of the hot steam. Remove the rind from the ham by inserting a sharp knife under it at the opposite end to the knuckle bone, gently lifting it away from the fat (try to keep as much fat on the leg as possible so that it will protect the ham and stop it drying out).
• Decorate the ham by scoring the fat with a knife to make large diamond shapes, taking the knife from one corner to the other, then making parallel scores 4cm apart. Repeat in the opposite direction. Put a clove in the corner of each diamond. Brush the ham with the sugar mixture, pushing it into the scores with the brush.
• Return the ham to the oven, placing it back on the trivet over the water. Bake for a further 45 mins until deeply coloured. Serve hot or cold. Will keep in the fridge for up to one week.