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Mulled sloe gin and plum ham
Serves: 8 as a main, more as a part of a buffet
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Martin Poole
Mulled sloe gin and plum ham
Recipe by Sarah Cook
Follow our foolproof way to cook your gammon joint then jazz it up for the party season with sloe gin!
Serves: 8 as a main, more as a part of a buffet
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time:
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Nutritional information (100g)
Calories
185Kcal
Fat
6gr
Saturates
2gr
Carbs
9gr
Sugars
9gr
Fibre
0gr
Protein
22gr
Salt
2.1gr
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Ingredients
- 1 x 2-3kg gammon joint, smoked or unsmoked according to preference
- 1 onion, thickly sliced (no need to peel)
- 2 tsp black peppercorns
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 3 bay leaves
- 10 whole cloves
For the mulled sloe gin glaze
- 100ml sloe gin
- 150g plum jam
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 50g caster sugar
- zest of 1 small orange, use a zester for nice strips
- 2 star anise
- 5 whole cloves
Serving suggestion
- 600g coleslaw
- 400g mixed leaf salad
- 500g mixed tomatoes, sliced and dressed
Step by step
Get ahead
Once cooked, the ham will last 1 week in the fridge, or leftovers can be frozen, well-wrapped, for up to 3 months.
-
Put the gammon in your largest pan – a preserving pan or stock pot is perfect. Add enough water to totally cover it and bring to the boil. When the water is boiling, skim off any scum that has risen to the surface with a spoon, then add the onion, peppercorns, coriander seeds, bay leaves and cloves. Cover with a lid, or use a large sheet of foil and a baking tray to hold it down, then turn down to a simmer and cook for 2 hours for a joint weighing about 2kg, 3 hours if it’s nearer to 3kg, and 2½ hours for a 2.5kg joint. Check every 20-30 minutes in case it needs topping up with boiling water from the kettle.TipIf you have a slow cooker, it's great for cooking the gammon without taking up hob space. Put the onion in the base, sit the gammon on top, then add water to cover, or to almost fill the pot. Cook on low for 10 hours, then glaze and roast.
- Pour off the liquid (cool, then freeze for later use; it’s great for soups), and carefully lift the hot ham into a foil-lined roasting tin. Let it cool just enough to handle safely, then cut away the skin, and trim the fat to an even layer. Score the fat all over with a criss-cross pattern or lines – both look good once baked. Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6.
- To make the glaze put all the ingredients in a small pan. Melt gently over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then increase the heat and bubble the glaze for 5 minutes. Fish out and discard the star anise and cloves, and leave the glaze to cool so it thickens up.
- When it’s cold and thicker, brush a quarter of it over the ham and bake for 5 minutes. Repeat every 5 minutes until the glaze is used up and the ham has cooked for a total of 20 minutes. Cook for up to 10 minutes more until the glaze has started to caramelise in parts. Spoon any glaze from the tin back over your ham and leave it to rest for at least 10 minutes before carving. Eat hot or cold.
- If you want to smarten up the glazed ham for the table, you can decorate with more cloves and star anise.