Glaze with pineapple for a cold ham

[TomPinch]

I'm in the Southern Hemisphere.

One of my children has specially requested a cold glazed ham for Christmas dinner, with slices of pineapple.

When I've glazed a ham I have used an easy Delia Smith recipe that uses mustard, brown sugar and whole cloves. On the couple of occasions that I've tried something else it's become a burned, sticky mess.

Would be very grateful for recipes that can be vouched for.

This was on TV recently, I haven't tried it yet but it looked amazing and I'm planning to make it soon (minus the cherries)

So, my Women’s Weekly Christmas Book has a glaze

• 60 ml pineapple juice
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 tbs brandy
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tbs orange marmalade
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Stir over low heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

I had a memory of toothpicks being used and found this https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/brown_sugar_baked_ham_with_pineapple/ which confirms it.

Apricot jam

I just saw on taste.com.au a hasselback ham that had thin pineapple slices between each layer across the whole ham. It looked fabulous in the photos! I suppose they used the golden circle brand of thin slices of pineapple- probably 3 or 4 cans.

I also use this Nigella recipe (doesn’t have pineapple but suppose you could add it!). It’s always been excellent.

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/slow-cooked-black-treacle-ham

I think it sounds like there are issues with the cooking time/technique though. I think the trick is to keep it moist during cooking but also keep an eye on it. If it’s burning, the temp is too high or it’s been left without checking for too long. I never trust the timings on any recipes (my oven is shit), so you do need to watch it and adjust time accordingly.

Can't help with a glaze but as an alternative I often make a pineapple salsa to serve with gammon. I roast it off with some nigella seeds and red peppers, so it starts to soften. Then finely dice a chilli, red onion, fresh coriander and mint. Mix it altogether, can be served warm or cold.

Once you've simmered the glaze do you brush the ham and bake for one hour?

It's on my to cook list too - it looked incredible.

@TomPinch Their instructions are to skin, score, glaze , bake for 20 minutes, glaze again and bake for a further 25 minutes. And that’s pretty much how I go about it, too.

I have always found skinning the ham easier when the ham is not cold. Room temperature at least and even better if it gets 5 minutes in the oven. As you lift the skin and run your knife over, keep it angled into the underside of the skin as you want the layer of fat for scoring and glazing.

You can later cook the skin at a high temperature and turn it into crackling. I buy very expensive nitrate free ham and keep the skin in the fridge and add bits to casseroles, risotto and stuff for a layer of flavour.