Any tips for jazzing up the turkey and/or ham? How do you cook yours?

[HoHoHoHappyHedgehog]

I fancy doing something a little different this year and wonder if anyone has any quick suggestions for making the turkey and ham a little more excitng!

What kind of ham? Smoked? Fresh?

My husband did our turkey this Thanksgiving on the barbecue and it was great. If you'd like, I'll have him post a how-to.

I do the ham, but just soak, simmer and then glaze in the oven. My glaze is just hot mustard and brown sugar, with cloves studded through the ham.

We cook our ham in cider instead of water ... bring it to the boil in water first (if you haven't soaked it overnight), then drain that water off and fill your pan up with cider (I'd usually use a 1-1.5l bottle and top up with water if necessary) and cook as usual. Let it sit in the cider until cold/ready to put in oven, then glaze with honey & cloves and finish in oven. Lovely!

I cooked a ham the other weekend in cranberry juice and apple juice with some cinnamon sticks and all spice berries, then chucked it in the oven with a glaze (honey, mustard and cranberry sauce). Was a bit of a gamble as it was for the inlaws who were expecting full turkey dinner but it went down really well (and was v easy).

Thanks for the ideas, might nip out and buy some cider today! Have reposted this question on the 'chat' topic to see if I can get some ideas for the turkey too.

Possibly you could do the turkey in Jamie Olivers fantastic roast chicken style... Put slices of black pudding all over, tucked UNDER the skin. It will all melt away making the breast meat moist, and has a nice spicey taste...?

omg that jamie o thing sounds utterly fatastic

saw an advert for some posh turkey in m&s so am copying it by laying pancetta in strips over the turkey for last hour it's in the oven
(i'm a veggie - this is all for the love of dh and his penchant for italian meat!)