Marmalade glazed jerk gammon

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Carved

Basting

Marinading

Ingredients for the boiling stage (I reduced the number of peppercorns after the picture was taken)

This is mercilessly plagiarised from the TV series; Jamie Oliver cooks Christmas. I made the jerk marinade yesterday and have already tried it with pan fried pork fillets and it was great.

I found the jerk marinade a bit heavy on the cloves, so I have omitted the cloves in the boiling stage.

This is a little long winded and it obviously takes a fair bit of planning, but it is worth doing, that I promise!

Ingredients

Boiling the gammon

• 1.4 kg gammon (unsmoked) - I chose one with very little skin as it will be discarded after boiling
• big bunch of parsley
• 15 peppercorns
• A big handful of Chinese preserved orange peel I happen to have some so thought I may as well use it. An orange or lemon quartered and crushed would be just as good
• Big stick of cinnamon

Marinade stage

• About 3 ladles full (about 250 ml) of jerk marinade

Roasting stage

• 3 tablespoons of ginger and rhubarb preserve (or marmalade)
• A tiny splash of rum

Method

Boiling

1. Place the gammon and the boiling ingredients in a large pan and just cover with boiling water
2. Fast simmer for about an hour
3. remove, drain, and allow to cool
4. Slice the skin off and discard. Try to leave a layer of fat on the meat
5. Score the fat in a criss-cross pattern, trying not to cut into the meat

Marinading

1. Marinade in a cool place for as long as you can - I went for 4 days. Keep in a cool place and in a sealed container if you have adventurous cats!
2. If you get the chance, turn the gammon every day and spoon the marinade over the meat

Roasting

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200° C (400° F - gas 6)
2. Put the gammon in a deep roasting tray and roast for 1 hour 50 minutes in total
3. Mix the rhubarb preserve or marmalade with a splash of rum to liquify it a little
4. After 1 hour 20 minutes has expired, take the tray out and deglaze the pan with a splash of rum
5. Spread the preserve over the surface of the gammon and roast for another 30 minutes or so. Check it every 8 minutes and re-baste with the preserve
6. Remove, rest for 10 minutes and serve

Serving suggestions

Serve hot with boiled potatoes, garden peas and pease pudding

Variations

Vary the ingredients that you add in the boiling stage to your own taste. Carrots, leeks, parsnip are all good flavour enhancers.

Jamie made his with marmalade but I thought the rhubarb and ginger preserve went better with the warm spices. Experiment with your favourite preserve.

Chef's note

Cooking times will vary for larger joints, and after tasting this I would recommend the biggest joint you can afford!

Follow the RSPCA Think Pig Checklist to make sure that your pork has come from pigs that have been reared to higher welfare standards.

• http://bit.ly/rspcathinkpig

See also

Take a look at our dynamic Meat cooking time calculator, we have an option for gammon that enables you to calculate the cooking times based on the weight of the gammon, bacon or ham.