Recipes

Val’s Whole Christmas Ham with Honey & Mustard

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Glazed whole bone-in Christmas ham, studded with cloves and finished with a golden honey and mustard crust, ready to carve

Christmas without ham is Christmas without The Two Ronnies, Kermit without Miss Piggy — it just isn’t Christmas. A glazed ham is the centrepiece of many festive tables, and this whole bone-in Christmas ham recipe, cooked with a sticky honey and mustard glaze, is no exception. Made with traditional dry-cured York-style ham, it’s full of flavour and makes a fitting centrepiece for a celebratory spread — perfect hot or cold, especially on Boxing Day.

Ingredients

Method

Simmer the Ham

  1. Take a large pan big enough to hold the ham. Lower the ham in, ensuring it’s covered by at least 2 inches of water. Add the parsley, celery, peppercorns and bay leaves.
  2. Bring to a gentle simmer and place the lid on. Monitor the heat — it can rise quickly with the lid on. A gentle wobble is ideal, allowing the ham to cook slowly.
  3. Using a probe thermometer, remove the ham once the core reaches 66°C. Expect this to take around 3–4 hours, depending on the size.

Prepare the Ham for Glazing

  1. Once cooked, remove any string and carefully cut away the rind while the ham is still warm, leaving as much fat attached as possible.
  2. Score the fat into a large diamond pattern, taking care not to cut into the meat. Spread the mustard powder on a chopping board and roll just the fat of the ham in it until it’s thoroughly coated. The surface should look dry and powdery. Don’t rub it in — the powder helps the glaze cling.
  3. Poke a clove into the centre of each diamond.

Glaze and Roast

  1. Preheat your oven to 200°C. In a small pan, melt the orange juice, honey, demerara and muscovado sugars.
  2. Place the ham fat-side up on a rack in a roasting tray or Dutch oven. Arrange a few of the squeezed orange halves underneath.
  3. Brush over some of the glaze and transfer to the oven. After 5 minutes, add more glaze. Continue brushing on glaze every 5–8 minutes, layering as you go. Avoid letting the sugars burn.
  4. As the glaze builds, tilt the tray and spoon the collected syrup back over the ham. Keep layering until you’ve glazed it 4–5 times. The ham should now be richly coloured and glossy.
  5. Leave to stand and allow the glaze to set before serving. To clean the tray, simmer the remaining sugar with water.

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Valentine Warner is a chef, food writer, business owner and broadcaster, with a deep interest in nature, travel and provincial food. He describes his cooking style as ‘International Grandmother’ and combines his strong sense of storytelling with his infectious love of cookery. Val has a deep respect and understanding of ingredients, both wild and cultivated, and has the instinctive ability to rustle up hearty and wholesome meals from whatever’s available. Val is an avid proponent of native food sources, and finds common ground with Swaledale in their work to deliver top-notch meat, within a truthful, ethical and high welfare framework. Originally a trained portrait painter, Val has also authored 5 cookbooks, managed his own catering company and is a co-owner of Taqueria, a West London Mexican cafe. Val is also a partner in the Hepple Distillery in Northumberland and Holmen Lofoten hotel on arctic Norway’s Lofoten island.