Maple and Mustard Glazed Gammon

T really wanted to make gammon over Christmas break and I was more than happy to do it with him. We browsed a number of recipes and finally decided on using Gordon Ramsay's recipe. We made a few modifications to the recipe and it was a huge success. I would love to try more gammon recipes and was really pleased with our end product.

Ingredients

1. 1 whole leg of gammon. We used smoked and not bone in. The recipe called for 5 kg but we used one that was around 2 kg. 
2. 1 cinnamon stick
3. 1 tsp peppercorns 
4. 1 tsp coriander seeds
5. Around 25 cloves 
6. 2 bay leaves 

Note: we actually used a lot more than the recipe asked for regarding these spices. These spices are                 put into the pot of water where you boil the ham in. W felt that the amount on the recipe was too little for such a large pot of water. I don't remember exactly how much more we put but around 5-6 bay leaves, 3-4 cinnamon sticks, and maybe change the tsp to tbsp. 

For the glaze 

1. 200ml maple syrup 
2. 2 tbsp course-grain mustard
3. 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
4. 2 tbsp soy sauce 

Procedure

1. Unwrap the gammon and place in a large pot. Be careful because the gammon is actually really heavy! I held the plate when T plopped it down and I dropped it (not on the floor don't worry).

2. Fill the pot with enough cold water to cover the gammon. Add the spices from the first ingredient list. The cloves are supposed to be used to pierce the skin in a later step but we added some to the water as well. Bring to a boil and lower the heat. Boil for 1.5 hours and skim off the nasty bubbles from time to time. 

3. When the gammon is done boiling, let it cool and peel off the skin. Make sure you don't rip off the fat! 

4. Use a knife to make some scoring marks on the gammon as shown and pierce it with cloves. 

5. Make the glaze with the ingredients in the 2nd list from the ingredients section. Preheat the oven to 170 - 190 C. 

6. Put the gammon in a tray and drizzle half the glaze over the ham. This can be a bit difficult because the glaze is not super thick yet so it just kind of drips off. But just try your best and use a spoon to spread it around. 

7. After 15 minutes, take out the gammon and pour the rest of the glaze over it. Put it back in the oven. You will have to bast the gammon 3-4 times and the syrup will get thicker and it will cover the gammon more easily as it cooks. Bake for 35 more minutes. 

8. Take out the gammon and let it rest for 15 minutes before carving. It can also be served cold and will be good for a few days. I forgot exactly how long it stayed good for. 

Enjoy!