Ingredients (serves 16)

• 7-8kg cooked leg ham on the bone
• 10 whole apricots, deseeded and chopped finely
• 1/2 cup orange marmalade
• 1 large orange zested and juiced
• 1 cup (200g) firm packed brown sugar
• Pinch of salt
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• Whole cloves (optional)
• 2 cups (500ml) ginger beer

Method

1. Place the apricots, marmalade, orange juice and zest into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the apricot mixture to the brown sugar, salt and cinnamon in a small pot and cook over a moderate heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture starts to boil. Let it boil for 4 minutes then remove it from the heat and set it aside.
2. Using a sharp knife cut around the bone at the base of ham. Gently run the knife along the edge of the skin just enough for you to get your fingers under the skin. Trying not to lift up too much fat, run your fingers under the skin lifting it up as you go, eventually loosening and peeling away the skin leaving behind the fat. Discard the skin and neatly trim up the fat. Using the same sharp knife gently score a shallow diamond pattern in the fat going down only 5mm and being careful not to cut too deeply into the fat or the ham meat.
3. Pierce each diamond with a whole clove and place the ham onto a wire rack in a large baking tray. Pour in the ginger beer and bake the ham for 30 – 40 minutes basting the ham heavily with the apricot orange glaze every 10 – 15 minutes until golden. Carefully remove the ham from the oven and onto a serving tray. Combine the juices from the ham with the remaining glaze and simmer on the stove for 5 minutes until thickened, serve the warm sauce with the sliced ham.

Notes

-There is definitely an art form to cutting or carving a ham especially one with a bone in it. To carve, use a sharp thin long carving knife to cut slices of ham away from the bone, this will ensure you have even slices that are the full size of the ham. Follow the grain of the meat, laying the slices on a platter as you go and working around the bone. Turn ham over and repeat on the other side. -To store a cooked ham pre and post baking, wrap the ham in a calico cloth, or clean piece of sheet that has been soaked in a vinegar solution of ¾ cup of white vinegar with 1 ½ litres of water. This will keep the ham moist and stop it from drying out. -To serve ham warm on Christmas day, you can prepare it the day before. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until you are ready to bake and glaze it. -Leftover ham on the bone can be covered in a vinegared cloth and then refrigerated for up to 2 weeks. If you are keeping it for that long, rinse out your cloth every 3 days with the prepared vinegar solution, to keep ham moist. -You can keep leftover ham in the freezer for up to 6 weeks although it is perfect to add to soups, scramble eggs, omelettes, sandwiches, salads, pastas, fried rice on pizzas and wherever else you want that delicious smoked flavour.