Recipe :: British Gammon in Coca-Cola

We enjoyed a slightly adapted version of Nigella Lawson's ham in Coca-Cola recipe for New Year's Eve this year. Despite our love for coke and the number of recipes out there using it as a key ingredient this was the first time we cooked with it. We made a few tweaks here and there - to accommodate for lack of ingredients and to incorporate other ideas we and our good friends had - and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

2kg British gammon joint

1 red onion, peeled and cut in half

2-litre bottle of regular Coca-Cola

Handful of cloves

About 4 tablespoons grainy dijon mustard

A couple of tablespoons of brown sugar

A couple of tablespoons of Spanish honey

Nigella's Instructions with a few tweaks:

Put the ham in a pan covered with cold water, bring to the boil, then tip into a colander in the sink and start from here; otherwise, put the gammon in a pan, skin-side down if it fits like that, add the onion, then pour over the Coke.

Bring to the boil, reduce to a good simmer, put the lid on loosely and cook for just under 2½ hours. If your joint is larger or smaller, work out timing by reckoning on an hour per kilo, remembering that it's going to get a quick blast in the oven later. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 240°C/gas mark 9.

At the end of the specified time, let the ham cool a bit and then remove the skin, leaving a thin layer of fat. Score the fat with a sharp knife to make fairly large diamond shapes, and stud each diamond with a clove. Then spread the glaze you made with the honey, sugar and mustard all over the ham generously. Cook in a foil-lined roasting tin for approximately 10 minutes or until the glaze is burnished and bubbly.

A perfect holiday meal or something for a rainy day! Best served with roasted vegetables and brussels sprouts. Fois gras, home made fig jelly and home made bread as a starter go really well too! Thanks to our good friends for a fabulous evening!

We were so busy cooking and enjoying ourselves we completely forgot to take a picture!