Amongst the busyness of life and celebrating family togetherness, there is nothing more comforting and tasty than a beautifully glazed ham.
As is customary, many Australians have Christmas at home and then spend early January away going to the beach and staying somewhere like The Bavarian Hut. After Boxing Day, we cut up the ham and pack it between paper in plastic containers ready for an assortment of meals to take away on holiday or to freeze and add to last minute meals.
For breakfasts, we love thick slices of ham on toast/English muffins with a poached egg balanced on the top. Creamy scrambled eggs with roughly cut pieces of ham liberally added or try your favourite leafy salad with chunks of ham added. Potato salad reaches new levels with chunks of ham and piccalilli gently stirred through. Tiny sandwiches with mustard, watercress and thin slices of ham make an interesting light meal.
There are many glazes we have enjoyed over the years. This is one of my favourites;
Cranberry-Currant Glaze
340 g redcurrant jelly
290 g jar cranberry sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup brandy
Combine jelly and sauce in a medium pan; stir over low heat; Stir in juice and brandy, strain. Brush the ham well with the glaze after removing rind/ scoring the ham according to the directions on the package of the ham. We like a diamond scoring pattern with whole cloves and cherries for decoration/colour. Bake according to ham's instructions! We usually bake the ham in a moderate oven for 1 hour. Check that the glaze doesn't burn to keep happiness to the optimum in the kitchen! Enjoy.
