Rachey's Mom's Christmas Ham Recipe

Okay Tom, here's the ham recipe you asked for tonight. And yes, it's fine to cook this even if it isn't Christmas!

Ingredients:

• 1 smoked ham, preferably on the bone, rind on
  (the size of the ham depends on the size of your pot; it's a good idea to measure your pan and take your tape measure when buying the ham - and yes, I have learned the hard way!)
• unsweetened pineapple juice in cans - around a litre per kilo of ham is a good measure
• lemonade softdrink - yes, the fizzy kind! I quite like the flavour of Sprite but any lemonade would work; again, around a litre per kilo of ham so it's the same amount as the juice
• 1 bottle of beer - a nice ale or even a porter would be lovely; try not to use a crap beer please!
• brown sugar for caramelising and glazing the ham
• cloves, pineapple rings or orange slices to decorate your ham

Equipment:

big pot (enough to fit the ham and liquids)
big tongs for taking out the ham of the pot (and an extra pair of strong hands and arms!)
kitchen blowtorch for glazing ham
serving tray for the ham


Procedure:

1. Put ham in pot.
2. Pour over the pineapple juice and lemonade. Bring to boil and simmer for 2.5 to 3 hours.
3. Take out ham of pot and put on serving tray.
4. Pour in beer into pot. Boil .liquid until well reduced to a syrup - this can take up to 2-3 more hours. Check the pot every half hour or so. Don't worry if it's taking too long - it really does take a while. Once the liquid turns into a deep brown molasses colour and coats the back of a wooden spoon, taste the syrup - it should be quite complex, and be quite sour, sweet and a tiny bit bitter from the beer. You can now turn off the hear and let the liquid cool in the pot. Transfer liquid into jars or other containers.
5. To glaze ham, carefully take off rind first and score fat in a diamond pattern. Pat brown sugar and paint on some of the reduced ham syrup, Glaze using kitchen blowtorch until nice and brown and shiny. Decorate ham with cloves, pineapple rings or orange slices.
6. To serve, heat ham syrup in a small pot - if the syrup still looks a bit runny, feel free to boil and further reduce the syrup prior to pouring into a gravy boat. Slice ham and pour some ham syrup over slices and have extra syrup handy. Enjoy!