Nigella?s coca cola ham

Ingredients

• 2 kg cured pre-cooked gammon
• 1 onion, peeled and cut in half
• 2-litre bottle of Coca-Cola (Or whatever amount you need to cover the gammon – the smaller the pot, the less Coke required.)
• For the Glaze
• Handful of cloves
• 1 rounded tablespoon of golden syrup
• 2 teaspoons English mustard powder
• 2 teaspoons Demerara (granulated brown sugar)

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Preparation

• Put the gammon in a large enough saucepan/stockpot/French oven, skin-side down if possible.
• Add the onion, then pour over the Coke. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer, put the lid on (but not tightly) and cook for about 1½ hours. If your joint is larger or smaller, adjust the timing by adding or subtracting say half an hour per kilo.
• Just before the end of the cooking time, preheat the oven to 240°C or 180°C, depending . When the ham is done, remove it from the heat, and let cool a little for ease of handling. Then take it out of the pot, remove the skin, and leave a thin layer of fat.
• Score the fat with a sharp knife to make fairly large diamond shapes, and stud each diamond with a clove. Transfer ham to a foil-lined roasting tin, and pour over a few ladles of the cooking liquid.
  
• If you want the ham in the oven right away, have the oven at 240°C. Carefully spread the golden syrup over the bark-budded skin, taking care not to dislodge the cloves. Gently pat the mustard and sugar onto the sticky fat. Then bake the ham for approximately 10 minutes or until the glaze is burnished and bubbly.
• If you want to let the ham cool to room temperature first and bake it later, then you only need the oven at 180°C. Glaze the ham just before baking, and bake it for 30-40 minutes, raising the temperature at the end if it appears necessary.

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