It’s Burns Night next week, on Thursday 25th January, and Burns Supper is a tradition we enjoy. Not everyone likes Haggis though, so we went on a mission to find a good Scottish recipe using our delicious pasture fed pork instead.
We stumbled across the brilliant blog ‘Foodie Quine – Edible Scottish Adventures by Claire Jessiman’ and found this ‘phenomenally popular’ recipe which we thought was brilliant – Iron Bru Ham!
For the Ham
2 kilograms mild-cure gammon joint
1 onion (peeled and quartered)
2 litres Irn Bru
For the Glaze
2 Tbsp Marmalade
1 Tbsp Whisky
2 Tbsp Wholegrain Mustard
2 Tbsp demerara sugar
Cloves
Put the gammon in a pan (skin-side down if it fits like that) add the onion, then pour over the Irn Bru.
Bring to the boil, reduce to a good simmer, put the lid on, though not tightly, and cook for just under 2½ hours. If your joint is larger or smaller, work out timing by reckoning on an hour per kilo.
When the ham’s had its time take it out of the pan and let cool a little for ease of handling.
Reserve half of the Irn Bru liquor for the sauce.
Then remove the skin, leaving a thin layer of fat. Score the fat with a sharp knife to make fairly large diamond shapes. Stud the intersections with cloves.
Mix together the marmalade, whisky, mustard and sugar and spread it over the fat.
Preheat the oven to 240c. Cook in a lined roasting tin for foil-lined roasting tin for approximately 10 minutes or until the glaze is burnished and bubbly.
If you want to do the braising stage in advance and then let the ham cool, give it 30-40 minutes, from room temperature, at 180c turning up the heat towards the end if you think it needs it.
Meanwhile boil up the Irn Bru liquor with an additional teaspoonful of both of mustard and marmalade and thicken with cornflour slaked with water to make a sauce.
