Christmas ham with honey
8 servings
180 minutes
Honey-baked pork ham is cooked in every decent Irish home at Christmas, as a rival to the English Christmas turkey. For three centuries, the best hams in Ireland have been those from County Limerick - thanks to the oak groves, local pigs were on an acorn diet, which affected the taste. Interestingly, in relation to pig slaughter in Ireland, the rule of months with the letter R was in effect for a long time, similar to the well-known rule for catching oysters, that is, in the summer, pigs could feel relatively safe. But in winter, the butchers had more than enough work, all parts of the carcass were used: the hams were salted, weighed and stored until Christmas, something like jellied meat was cooked from the legs, bacon was smoked, the stomach was stuffed and fried (such a dish was called "a fake goose"), even the bladder did not disappear - it was inflated, dried and used as a ball.
1
Place the boneless pork ham in a large pot with salted water (150 grams per 4 liters of water). Leave it overnight.
- Pork ham: 4 kg
- Salt: 150 g
2
Clean the onions and insert a few cloves into each. Place the ham in a fireproof dish, and place the onion heads and whole peeled carrot next to it. Pour in enough water to cover the vegetables (about 3 liters). Bake at 120 degrees until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 75 degrees (2-3 hours, depending on the oven's characteristics). You can check the temperature with a cooking thermometer. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.
- Onion: 2 heads
- Carrot: 1 piece
- Carnation: to taste
3
Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Whisk the yolks with honey, cooled espresso, and mustard. Increase the oven temperature to 230 degrees. Carefully transfer the ham from the broth to a rack on a baking sheet, cut off any cooking twine (if used), then coat the ham with glaze using a brush. Bake for 8 minutes until a golden crust forms.
- Egg yolk: 2 pieces
- Honey: 2 tablespoons
- Espresso: 25 ml
- Dijon mustard: 100 g