Christmas

The Christmas ham guide: choosing, cooking and glazing

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A glazed ham is the most useful thing on the Christmas table. It is the one joint that does not need timing to the minute, that tastes as good cold on Boxing Day as it did hot the night before, and that quietly feeds everyone who wanders into the kitchen between meals. Cook it a few days ahead, glaze it when you have a spare half hour, and it will carry you through the week.

Here is everything we get asked across the counter in December: which joint to choose, how far ahead you can safely cook it, three glazes with proper quantities, and how long the meat keeps once it is done.

Gammon or ham? The bit that confuses everyone

Gammon is the raw cured leg. Ham is what it becomes once it is cooked. So you buy a gammon, you cook it, and you serve ham. That is it in a nutshell.

You will also see smoked and unsmoked. Unsmoked, or green, gammon has a cleaner, sweeter, straightforwardly porky flavour and takes a glaze beautifully because there is nothing competing with it. Smoked gammon has a deeper, woodier note that stands up well to treacle, whisky and clove. Neither is better. If your family are used to a mild, pale ham, take the Plain Gammon; if you like a bit of smoke and a darker flavour under the glaze, the Smoked Gammon is the one.

Bone in or boneless?

Bone in

A gammon on the bone is the showstopper. The bone conducts heat evenly, keeps the meat moist through a long cook, and gives you far more flavour in the meat immediately around it. It also gives you a bone afterwards, which is worth having: simmered with a few vegetables it makes the base of a pea and ham soup that is better than anything you will buy.

The trade-offs are honest ones. It is heavier for the same amount of meat, it needs a big pan and a big oven shelf, and carving takes a little confidence. A whole bone-in gammon runs to 5-7kg and will feed a crowd; a half is usually 2.5-3.5kg and is the sensible size for most households.

Boneless

A rolled, boneless gammon is tidy, easy to judge and easy to carve into neat, even slices, which matters if you are making sandwiches for twelve. Every slice is the same shape, nothing is wasted, and it fits in a normal pan. It cooks slightly faster per kilo and is more forgiving if your oven is already fighting for space with the bird.

Choose bone in if the ham is the centrepiece and you want the theatre of it. Choose boneless if it is doing a quieter job: cold cuts, buffet, sandwiches, boxing day plates.

How much to buy

  • On the bone: allow 250-300g raw weight per person.
  • Boneless: allow 175-225g raw weight per person.
  • Then add a third again, because cold ham disappears at a rate nobody predicts.

If Christmas is already a logistical problem and you would rather not cook one at all, a ready Cooked Ham On The Bone does the same job with none of the work, and is carved from the joint just as you would at home.

Do I need to soak it?

Most modern cures are mild and do not need soaking. If you are unsure about a particular joint, ask us when you buy it – it takes ten seconds and saves you guessing. If you want belt and braces, cover the gammon in cold water overnight in a cool place, or bring it up to a simmer, tip that first water away and start again with fresh.

How to cook it

Simmer first, then roast to set the glaze. It is the method that has lasted because it works.

  1. Put the gammon in a deep pan and cover with cold water. Add an onion halved, a couple of bay leaves, a stick of celery and a dozen peppercorns. A bottle of cider in place of some of the water is never a bad idea.
  2. Bring slowly to the boil, skim off the greyish foam, then drop to the barest simmer. Allow 20 minutes per 450g, plus 20 minutes.
  3. Lift it out and let it sit until cool enough to handle, about 20 minutes. Save the cooking liquor – it makes a good soup base, though taste it for salt before you commit.
  4. Cut the string away, slide a knife under the rind and peel it off, leaving as much of the fat behind as you can. Score the fat into diamonds, about 1cm deep, and stud with cloves if you like them.
  5. Glaze generously, sit in a roasting tin lined with foil, and roast at 200C (180C fan) for 25-35 minutes, basting with the pan juices two or three times, until dark, bubbling and lacquered.

If you want certainty rather than arithmetic, the centre should reach 68-70C before you glaze it.

Three glazes, with real quantities

Each of these is enough for a joint of 3-4kg. Warm the ingredients together in a small pan until the sugar has dissolved, then brush on thickly.

Honey, cider and two mustards

The classic, and the one that pleases everyone. The English mustard gives it a bit of heat behind the sweetness. We also have the delicious honey mustard from The Chain Bridge Honey Farm that works perfectly.

Marmalade, whisky and clove

  • 6 tbsp Seville orange marmalade
  • 2 tbsp whisky
  • 2 tbsp demerara sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cloves, plus whole cloves for studding

Sharper and more grown up. Particularly good on unsmoked gammon, where the bitterness of the peel has room to show.

Treacle, orange and allspice

  • 2 tbsp black treacle
  • 4 tbsp dark brown sugar
  • Zest and juice of 1 orange
  • 1 tsp ground allspice
  • 1 tbsp cider vinegar

Dark, sticky and faintly liquorice-like. This is the one for smoked gammon, and it goes very happily with a spoonful of Christmas Spice Chutney Gift Jar 370g alongside.

How far ahead can it be cooked?

Comfortably three days, and this is the single best thing you can do for your Christmas timetable. Simmer the gammon up to five days before, cool it quickly, wrap it well and keep it in the fridge. Then peel, score, glaze and roast on the day you want it – a cold joint will need an extra 10-15 minutes in the oven.

You can also do the whole thing, glaze and all, up to three days ahead and serve it cold. A ham glazed on the 22nd and eaten cold on the 25th is arguably at its best: the flavours settle, the fat firms up and it carves more cleanly.

How long does it keep once cooked?

  • Whole, unsliced and well wrapped in the fridge: up to 5 days.
  • Sliced and covered: 3 days, and it dries out faster once cut, so slice as you go rather than all at once.
  • Frozen in portions, wrapped tightly: 2-3 months. Slices thaw quickly and are fine for sandwiches, though the texture is never quite what it was.

Keep it wrapped in greaseproof paper inside a container rather than clingfilm alone, and it will hold its texture far better. A bone-in ham keeps particularly well because the exposed surface area is smaller.

Using up the last of it

Ham hash with fried eggs, a proper pea and ham soup made with the cooking liquor and the bone, macaroni cheese with chunks of ham through it, or simply ham and mustard on good bread standing up in the kitchen. And when the joint is finally gone but the appetite is not, a couple of Gammon Steak with a fried egg will see you into January.