Cola Ham

When a mere 6 slices of honey glazed ham costs £3 in the supermarkets, you have no choice but to make your own. But once you had taken the trouble to DIY (and I can assure you, it is not much trouble afterall), you would never want to buy supermarket sliced ham again. There are two ways to boil ham: you can either boil it with water (together with some peppercorns and bay leaves), which at the end you not only get a cooked ham, but also wonderful ham stock (for pea and ham soup); or you can boil it in coca cola, which you get a deliciously sweet ham but you will have to discard the cola liquid afterwards (I think you can freeze the cola liquid for a second time, but I am not sure you can use them indefinitely...).

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1. 650g smoked/unsmoked gammon joint (check the packaging it's mild cure, or you will need to soak it in cold water overnight)
2. 2 cans coca cola
3. 3 peppercorns
4. 1 star anise
5. Cloves, for studding
6. 1 tablespoon apple cider
7. 1/2 tablespoon black treacle/golden syrup
8. 2 tablespoon demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Method:

• Put the gammon (skin side down), coca cola, peppercorn and star anise in a big pan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and put the lid on to cook for 40 minutes. Turn around the ham half way through cooking. When the ham is cooked, take out the ham to cool slightly.
• Preheat oven to 220c.
• Put the ham in a roasting tine, and cut away the skin while reserving a thin layer of fat on the ham. Score the fat in a diamond pattern and push a clove into each intersection of diamonds.
• In a small bowl, combine apple cider and black treacle/golden syrup together. Brush this glaze all over the ham and sprinkle the demera sugar liberally on the top. Bake for 10 minutes.