Best Home Cooked Ham Recipe

[CarlaH]

I have tried cooking a ham in the past but they have always ended up being a bit dry so for the past few years I have just bought a cooked ham.

I'd like to try again to cook one myself so does anybody have any recipes they would recommend for a nice moist home cooked ham.

Do you have a pressure cooker? Virtually impossible to dry out a ham in a pressure cooker!

Nigella cola ham.

My version goes something like -
Big ham from the butcher, about 20 quid last year.
Into your largest deepest pot.
Tip in full sugar coke to about half way up the ham.
Bring to the boil then simmer for about 3 hours. Half cover with the lid. Watch it constantly, turn over with forks a few times, top up the coke, you don't want it to boil dry.
Once your 3 hours have elapsed. Take it off the heat, turn it a few times during cooling. Once cool take it out of the coke. Chuck out the coke. Bake the ham covered fully in foil in the oven for I dunno, half an hour at 180 if you want hot.

There you go.

@SpunBodgeSquarepants

Do you have a pressure cooker? Virtually impossible to dry out a ham in a pressure cooker!

Sadly not. They used to frighten me as a child and I have never got over it.

@FlibbertyGiblets

Nigella cola ham.

My version goes something like -
Big ham from the butcher, about 20 quid last year.
Into your largest deepest pot.
Tip in full sugar coke to about half way up the ham.
Bring to the boil then simmer for about 3 hours. Half cover with the lid. Watch it constantly, turn over with forks a few times, top up the coke, you don't want it to boil dry.
Once your 3 hours have elapsed. Take it off the heat, turn it a few times during cooling. Once cool take it out of the coke. Chuck out the coke. Bake the ham covered fully in foil in the oven for I dunno, half an hour at 180 if you want hot.

There you go.

Thank you for your response.

I think I might have tried this but can't be sure. It's the oven bit that seems to dry the ham out but I suppose you do have to do that.

I always boil it then glaze with honey and mustard and then roast, exMIL always buys a huge one and roast it for hours then wonders why it's dry.

Another vote for Coca Cola ham.

If you want a roast gammon, that's slightly different and much juicier.

I do nigella too. But I buy a joint that will fit in the slow cooker, pour the full sugar coke over and cook on high for 4-5 hours. Then drizzle with a mixture of honey, grain mustard and a little soy sauce. Blast for 10 mins max. Remove. Immediately cover tightly with foil. Leave well alone until cooler to slice.

I cook mine in cider and mulling spices, if you let it cool in the liquid it will stay moist and you have a fabulous base for lentil soup.

Thanks all.

I do have a slow cooker so maybe that's the way to go.

@goose1964

I cook mine in cider and mulling spices, if you let it cool in the liquid it will stay moist and you have a fabulous base for lentil soup.

This sounds interesting. Have you the time to post a full recipe?

I love cider.

Oh another vote for slow cooker ham in cola! I need a slow cooker...

Dr Pepper is also an agreeable alternative to Coca Cola when making Nigella's ham.

I do mine in the slow cooker. Put it in a mixture of stock (usually chicken or vegetable) add some apple juice and a few spices (cloves & bay leaves) I cook it ok low for 7/8 hrs then once it’s done if it’s got skin on still I peel that off cross cross the fat and pour on a glaze of honey & mustard (4tbsp honey 2tbsp mustard mixed with a tiny bit of boiling water to make it extra runny). You can pour all the glaze at once or put half on and then pour the other half on 15 mins into cooking.

I cook it in the oven for 30 mins on 170ish (that’s what’s best for my oven) so the fat and glaze get all crispy but the inside is still slow cooker moist and falling apart

Slow cooker, add a tangerine cut in half, can of cider, some peppercorns, few cloves, couple of tablespoons of Demerara sugar, cook a piece of gammon low for hours and hours, switch off and let it cool in the cooking liquor. Works every time and your house smells of Christmas.

In the slow cooker with a small amount of orange juice..then score the fat, studd.with cloves, pat in brown sugar,, drench in honey and finish off in the oven for 20 mins

If you're roasting it in the oven do you put some water in the bottom of the roasting tray and then cover the whole lot with foil sealed over the edges of the tin. Only take the foil off for the last 15 mins when you put the glaze on. Works for me.

Nigella's ham - been cooking it like this for over 20 years and everyone loves it

I like the Nigella cola one too, or there's a nice tangerine and ginger beer one on BBC Food website which is quite Christmas-y. I once used Irn Bru when I forgot to buy cola, turned out ok!

Nigellas ham here too

You’re right that it’s the oven bit that dries it out; try to do that part for as short a time as possible (so bang up the heat and roast for much shorter time than the recipe recommends). It has been cooked by then in the liquid so the roasting part is really just for appearances sake and to cook the glaze and make it look a bit browned. For regular, week-day hams (one supper with mash and some parsley sauce and then sandwiches for the remainder of the week) I don’t bother with the roasting part at all, just simmer with carrots, celery, onion, bouquet garni then let it cool in the water.
Also try to find a gammon with a good thick layer of fat as it will baste it as it roasts and help with moisture - you can always cut it off after. Supermarket gammons these days always seem to have a very thin layer of fat.

Delia. Every time.

Get one with a bone in - so much more flavour and far moister.

Simmer very slowly and low so the meat doesn’t toughen. Just glaze and bake on medium for the final 20 minutes. Cook according to weight of ham - ham may need soaking; your supplier can advise.

I'm sure we did something with treacle? Apple cider vinegar and perhaps honey.. Something like that and the smell was sensational!

Another vote for Delia.

I think having a meat thermometer helps you know when it's cooked and the hot flash with mustard/honey always produces a great ham