By Natalie BennettFriday 3 Dec 2021The Morning Wake-up with JordanaLifestyleReading Time: 2 minutes
This ham is outstanding with its crunchy, sweet and hot crust protecting the glorious, smokey, juicy meat on the inside.
I like to decorate with cute little characters but this year I will try to get a proper photo of the finished ham, before it’s devoured that is.
Finnish Christmas Ham
Ingredients
- Free Range Smoked leg of ham – make sure it fits in your oven
- 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup of Finnish Mustard – click for recipe
- Large foil tray
- Whole Cloves
Method
- Start by making your Finnish mustard. Ideally make it the day before so it has time to cool but it’s not absolutely necessary to do so.
- Mix together the breadcrumbs and brown sugar then set aside.
- Remove the ham from the bag and set it on a large, clean surface.
- With a sharp knife cut a zig zag around the skin near the bone.
- Now the fun begins… with your fingers, get under the skin and start separating the skin from the fat. The idea is to keep as mush fat as possible so take your time with this step.
- Unfortunately the skin can’t be used for crackling so just toss it.
Crackling tips
- Place the skinned ham in a large baking container. Use a disposable foil tray, it will make life a little easier for you on the day.
- Using a knife, spread a fairly thick layer of the Finnish Mustard over all of the exposed flesh, making sure you get right under the ham also.
- Press the sugar/breadcrumb mixture all over the mustard.
- Once completely cover with the crumb mixture, decorate the ham with the cloves. You can either go all over the top of the ham with the cloves or just do a ‘ribbon’ of cloves across the top.
- Place in a pre heated 190°C oven and cook for about 1 hour. It’s ready when the crust has turned golden brown.
Recipe supplied by Gina from Yandina Butchery. Yandina Butchery can deliver their amazing free range and chemical free meats anywhere on the Sunshine Coast. Shop online or text on 0417 779 374