Jamie Oliver's Jerk Ham

Jerk Ham

Look, I know Christmas was a few days ago so I'm a touch late with this, but I've been a bit busy with the eating and drinking to be arsed to update my posts. If this offends you, I apologise, but skip visiting for a few days because there's plenty more festive grub to come. Actually, don't leave me – I've realised since starting The Albion Tavern that I need and love you all, especially my one visitor from Oman (seriously, you might want to give the Christmas ham a miss, though...). Instead, read on, keep returning and hopefully enjoying what I make and write, and when Christmas rears its corporate head again sometime next August, you'll remember "that spicy ham thing" from The Albion Tavern and decide that this year you'll give it a try.

Anyway, thanks to regular contributor Jamie Oliver from Essex for this recipe. Keep it up lad and I reckon you'll go far. It's the second time I've made this and, despite there being slightly more ingredients than a bottle of Coke, don't think I'd try any other method, it's that good. I made it on Christmas Eve and the smells from the kitchen as it was cooking were truly mouth-watering. I used a 2.5kg hunk of ham and it goes a ridiculously long way – to be honest, looking at the price of supermarket sliced ham these days it makes perfect financial sense to keep making this throughout the year. More austerity tips in 2012, finance fans...

Ingredients:
For poaching:
2.5kg leg of ham
1/2 tbsp whole black peppercorns
1 red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
3 Scotch bonnet chillies, halved
1 tsp whole cloves
1 stick of celery, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 small leek, washed and roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
½ bunch thyme
1/2 cinnamon stick

For the marinade:
3 fresh bay leaves
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp allspice
1/2 tbsp cloves
1 tbsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tbsp sea salt
1/2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 red onions, peeled and quartered
4 Scotch bonnet chillies, stalks removed
125ml dark rum
125ml malt vinegar
small bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked

For the glaze:
1/3 jar good-quality, fine-cut marmalade
65ml golden rum


Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Put the ham in a large roasting pan with all the poaching ingredients. Add water until it comes halfway up the side of the pan. Cover the ham with tinfoil (making a tent over the ham to allow the steam to circulate). Bake for 2 hours or until pink and cooked through remove from the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes, remaining covered.
2. While your ham poaches you can prepare the jerk marinade. Add the bay and your dry spices to a food processor with your garlic cloves. Give it a good whiz so it forms a paste, then throw in your onions and chillies and whiz for a few more minutes. Pour in the rum and malt vinegar and keep whizzing everything around while you add the thyme. Once you've got a nice loose consistency your jerk marinade is ready.
3. Once your ham has finished poaching, transfer it to a roasting tray and let it cool down a bit. While still warm, put your hand underneath the skin and gently pull it away from the meat, leaving the bit of the fat underneath attached. Then, with a sharp knife, score the ham by lightly making diagonal cuts across the leg.
4. Spoon the jerk marinade over the pork and use the back of the spoon to smear it all over the ham and into the scored fat. If you want to use your hands then make sure you use rubber gloves, because this marinade is hot.
5. Pour a small glass of water into the bottom of your roasting tray and put the ham in your preheated oven for 2 hours. Try to baste it every half hour so it gets nice and dark. Once it comes out of the oven, scrape off a bit of marinade with a spatula. Spoon about 1/3 of a jar of marmalade over the ham and pour a good swig of dark rum on top. Smear this mixture all over and let it drip down the sides of the ham. Spoon the juices off the bottom of the tray and back over the ham. Put it back into the oven, at the same temperature for another 30 minutes, basting every 5 to 7 minutes until lovely and dark.