An essential dish for any Christmas lunch, a glazed ham is often the centrepiece of a lot of Australian families. The orange and mixed-spiced glaze adds a zesty flavour to the ham that pairs well with a number of different Christmas sides – and can be used in a tasty ham and cheese sandwich the next day.
If you’ve got a NEFF oven with And if you’ve got a Slide&Hide®, then you can easily open the oven and baste the ham without any obstacles.
Function: Added Steam, Circo Therm®
2 cinnamon sticks
6 cardamom pods (cracked with the back of a knife)
1 tbsp fennel seeds
2 oranges, zest and juice
250 g brown sugar
50 g butter
4 kg Christmas leg Ham, on the bone
Whole cloves, to decorate
Place the cinnamon, cardamom and fennel seeds in a medium saucepan and dry roast the spices over Induction level 8 or FlameSelect® level 9 for 5 minutes or until aromatic. Place the spices in a piece of chux or muslin cloth and tie into a pouch.
Return spice pouch to the saucepan, add the orange juice and zest, sugar and butter. Bring the glaze to a boil on Induction level 8 or FlameSelect level 9. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low while preparing the ham.
Remove the skin of the ham by first cutting around the leg, 10 cm from the end. Using a sharp knife, run the knife tip under the skin to make a 10 cm slit to fit your fingers. When you have a good grip of the skin pull the skin back, it should pull back easily. Use a knife if needed, ensuring little fat is removed.
Score the fat with incisions 2 cm apart in one direction, then again in the other direction which will give a diamond pattern. Push the cloves in the corner of each diamond all over the top of the ham.
Place the ham on a wire rack, on top of the universal tray lined with baking paper. To stop the ham from moving you can use some crushed foil place on each side. Remove glaze from the heat and using a pastry brush, coat the top of the ham with the first layer of glaze.
Place ham in the oven and select CircoTherm® at 140⁰C with a low level of steam. Set cooking time for 2 hours. Set minute minder for 30 minutes and then baste ham again. Reset minute minder and repeat every 15 minutes until all the glaze has been used and ham has cooked for 2 hours. Remove ham from oven and rest for 30 minutes before serving.
The glaze for the ham can be made a day in advance. Reheat over a low heat before using.
Warren is a chef with over 20 years of cooking experience, ranging from Michelin Star Restaurants to 5 star Hotels. He is highly passionate about embracing technology to create food that is visually stunning, tasty and packed with a whole lot of nutritional goodness.