#FestiveRecipe: Apricot soy and sesame glazed gammon

Apricot soy and sesame glazed gammon - pic supplied

Apricot soy and sesame glazed gammon - pic supplied

Published Dec 22, 2017

Share

Ingredients

2-3 kg gammon, off the bone

2 fresh bay leaves

10 black peppercorns

6 whole cloves

6 garlic cloves for the glaze

1 tbls olive oil

1 tbls chopped fresh ginger

34 cup thinly sliced dried apricots

2 tbls brown sugar

2 tbls soy sauce

1 tbls runny honey

1 1/2 cups apricot or orange juice

Almond stuffed apricots

12 cup smooth apricot jam

Salt and black pepper

1 tsp sesame oil (optional)

For the syrup

1 cup water

1 cup apricot juice

1 cup white sugar

3 whole cloves

1 piece stick cinnamon

20 dried Turkish apricots

20 whole almonds skin on or off

Method

Pre-heat oven to 200°C.

Remove the gammon from the packaging and place it in a pot large enough to hold it and add the bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves.

Cook following the cooking instructions on the packaging. As a guideline, cook the gammon for 20 minutes for every 450g. Once the gammon is tender remove the pot from the heat (Tip: Simmer gently rather than boil rapidly).

Allow the gammon to cool in the stock then remove and remove the skin gently, keeping a thin layer of fat on it to keep it moist and succulent and flavourful.

Place a sheet of foil in a roasting pan and place the gammon on top of it. Score the fat in a diamond pattern and rub the surface with a little English mustard and pour over half the glaze.

Place the gammon into your pre-heated oven and as soon as the top starts to bubble, (keep your eye on it, you don’t want the sugar to burn), remove from the oven and spread the remaining glaze over the top and return to the oven until just starting to bubble, not brown.

Mix the remaining glaze with the dried fruit and press this onto the top of the gammon, roast in the oven till the top looks glazed and bubbly.

Remove from the oven and let the gammon rest before you carve it if you are serving it hot, or cool it down if you are serving it cold.

The glaze

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan and cook the ginger stirring for 1 minute.

Add the apricots and brown sugar and cook stirring for 1 minute.

Add the soy sauce, honey, juice and jam, season with salt and pepper and cook till a runny syrup consistency forms.

Remove from the heat, stir in the sesame oil, set aside till needed. Tip: Thin it down with a little hot water if it thickens to fast.

To make the syrup place the water, juice, sugar and spices in a pot and cook to a very light syrup.

Stuff the apricots with the almond, by opening the apricots gently and push the almonds inside.

Turn the heat down and gently cook the apricots in the syrup, do not allow the syrup to cook too thick as this will cause the apricots to go hard, remove from the heat and cool till needed.

Serve whole on a platter surrounded by the apricots.

Tip 

If you would prefer not have an elaborate topping on your gammon then rub the top of the gammon thickly with Dijon mustard and sprinkle on some brown sugar followed by a thin layer of honey, place the gammon into your pre-heated oven and as soon as the top starts to bubble, remove it, keep your eye on it, you don’t want it to burn.

Jenny Morris’ recipe

Related Topics: