Sweet Spiced Gammon

Name: Sweet Spiced Gammon
Yield: Serves 15-20
Ingredients: 2-3 teaspoons (2-3 x 5 ml spoons) juniper berries; 1 teaspoon (5 ml spoon) cloves; 1 tablespoon (15 ml spoon) redcurrant jelly; 3 teaspoons (3 x 5 ml spoon) French mustard; water; 1½ lb (750 g) plain flour; 3 tablespoons (3 x 15 ml spoons) black treacle; 2 tablespoons (2 x 15 ml spoons) dark brown sugar; approximately 11 lb (4.95 kg) smoked gammon on the bone; 3 teaspoons (3 x 5 ml spoons) black peppercorns; 2 teaspoons (2 x 5 ml spoons) allspice berries

Preparation info

Serves
15-20

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Cooking for Christmas

By Josceline Dimbleby

Published 1978

About

It is traditional to have a ham at Christmas and the way to ensure that it is full of flavour and character is to prepare and cook it yourself. In this recipe I bake the ham in the old fashioned way, encased in a flour and water paste. I think it tastes better like this but you can cook it wrapped in foil if you prefer.

Ingredients

approximately 11 lb (4.95 kg) smoked gammon on the bone
3 tablespoons (3 x

Main course
Spicy
December
Christmas

Method

Soak the gammon in a large sink of cold water, if possible, overnight, changing the water once or twice. Take it out and pat it dry. In a bowl, put the black treacle and the dark brown sugar. Grind the black peppercorns, the allspice and the cloves in a coffee grinder or with a pestle and motar. Mix them into the black treacle and sugar. Roughly crush the juniper berries and press them into any