A favourite for Christmas, a baked ham is an easy way to feed a crowd. We had a chat to our resident chef, Willie, to get his Christmas ham recipe so that we could share this simple recipe with you ahead of the festive season.
It’s how we cook our hams here at Catering Catering, and an easy way to ensure you serve up a mouth-watering ham for all to enjoy.

1. Trim off the skin – but don’t trim the fat off.
2. Score the fat – quite deep into the fat (but not into the meat). Score into squares – say 20mm across.
3. Bake uncovered in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes then turn down to 160 degrees for another hour (if it’s getting too brown turn the heat down a tad more).
4. Mix ½ cup of mustard and 1 cup of Maple Syrup (genuine maple syrup is superb but expensive – the artificial maple syrup will do wonderfully).
5. 10 minutes before the ham is due to come out baste the ham with the mustard/maple mix and cook for the last 10 minutes. If you put this in to soon the sugar in the maple will burn.
6. Rest the meat for 10 minutes – just leave it uncovered on the carving board.

Carve and serve.  When you’ve finished your meal let the leftover ham cool down and wrap in a wet tea towel before putting in the fridge. If you keep the tea towel damp your ham will last a couple of weeks.

Bon appetit!