The Sunday Roast · England-wide

Honey-Glazed Gammon

Name: Honey-Glazed Gammon
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 10 min
Total time: 2 h 25 min
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 2.5kg unsmoked gammon joint; 1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 bay leaves, 10 black peppercorns; For the glaze: 4 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp English mustard, 2 tbsp demerara sugar; Whole cloves, for studding

Gently simmered gammon finished in the oven with a sticky honey, mustard and clove glaze — glorious hot on Boxing Day and even better cold from the fridge.

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 130 min
Total: 145 min
Yield: Serves 8
Difficulty: Moderate
Era: Victorian

Ingredients

2.5kg unsmoked gammon joint
1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 bay leaves, 10 black peppercorns
For the glaze: 4 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp English mustard, 2 tbsp demerara sugar
Whole cloves, for studding

Method

Oven200°C400°FFan 180°CGas 6

Soak the gammon in cold water for a few hours if your butcher advises it, then drain.
Cover with fresh water, add the vegetables and spices, and simmer gently for 20 minutes per 500g (about 1 hour 40 minutes).
Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F (fan 180°C, gas 6).
Strip off the rind, leaving a layer of fat. Score the fat in diamonds and stud each diamond with a clove.
Brush with honey, mustard and sugar. Roast 25–30 minutes until the glaze is burnished and bubbling.
Rest 15 minutes, carve into thick slices, and serve with parsley sauce — or let it go completely cold for the best sandwiches of the year.

Oven temperatures are given in Celsius, Fahrenheit, fan and gas mark throughout. Quantities are metric, as cooked and written in the UK.