Honey & Mustard Glazed Cola Ham

For the past few years every time we have eaten gammon I have waited until I have had some time spare to cook this wonderful glaze.  Yes, it takes a while, not much prep or culinary skills required but you need to be around in the house for about 3 hours while it cooks and be able to spend little snippets of time paying the gammon a little attention.  It really is a simple meal to make with a few simple ingredients. 

First you have to boil the gammon for about 1 1/2 hours.  Pop it in a sauce pan and cover in about 3/4 of the cola.  Not diet cola, real full fat variety and to be honest a cheap supermarket version tastes exactly the same as one of the brands.

Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't boil dry and top us as required.  You need to have it on a steady boil.  My saucepan wasn't deep enough to cover the gammon and I find you need more than 1 bottle to cover it so I turn it over half way through.  If you cover the gammon, it doesn't need more than about an hour. I cut my gammon in half when I turned it upside down half way through as I am using it for two meals.

Take the gammon out of the cola and thrown the liquid away.  Do not ask to drink it like my Son did the first time I made this!

The original (**) recipe called for you to put cloves in the meat but the kids don't like the taste of cloves so I don't and to  be honest is really fiddly.  I do one at Christmas with the cloves and one without but run of the mill family meals I don't bother as I end up putting cloves in then picking them all out for the kids.  Life really is too short for that!  Obviously if you fancy cloves, spend some time now and push a load in the meat.

Next you need to prepare the glaze.  Add honey, English and grain mustard in to a bowl.  I use about 2 tablespoons of each. Mix well.

Place the gammon in a roasting tray and spread on the glaze.  

Now roast for 3/4 hour.  Half way through add a little more glaze.  When cooked served with roast veg.  The gammon is lovely cold with a salad or cut in chunks to add to pasta and sauce (creme fraiche stirred through the hot pasta with parmesan cheese and seasoning).

If you find you have any of the glaze left over pop it in a container, add some olive oil, pinch of sea salt, shake well and use as a salad dressing.  Store in the fridge and use within a couple of days.

Simple 2 or 3 meals in one and a salad dressing to boot.  

(**) Not quite sure where I had the original recipe from but if you google 'cola ham' plenty of very similar recipes come up.