Jerk Ham for Christmas

Simcan

I have been seeing all the ham posts and thought I would share what I do as a Christmas tradition. Previous years I have done it in the oven but now, as an egghead, I can't wait to take this to the next level. Recipe originally is Jamie Oliver's. 

I actually was thinking about doing Egrets ham this year, but my wife and in-laws threatened to boycott dinner if I did not make their annual favorite.  It is truly spectacular...so flavorful and the smell is amazing. Also, many of the flavors in jerk are actually very Christmassy, if you think about it. Cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg.

I was thinking of injecting this year.  Do you think maple syrup would go well? Any other ideas?

I am getting some pimento wood to make it even more authentic.

To make the marinade, you add the bay leaves and the dry spices to a food processor with the garlic, and pulse it all into a paste. Then you add the onions and chillies and puree it all. The smell really hits around now. You pour in the rum and malt vinegar and keep pureeing while you add the thyme.

Basically, you simply take a ham (bone-in, of course) and take off the skin if it is there and score the fat, coating the ham with the marinade and refrigerating for a day. I keep the excess because it is excellent on lots of stuff, especially chicken thighs.

Then you smoke it to temp in a tray with a little water, basting occasionally.  Then you break up the "crust" a little bit and drizzle with the glaze, and then cook it a little more to set the glaze.

For the jerk marinade

• 6 fresh bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons allspice
• 1 tablespoon cloves
• 2 tablespoons ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 red onions, peeled and quartered
• 8 Scotch bonnet chillies, stalks removed
• 250ml dark rum
• 250ml malt vinegar
• Small bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked

For the ham glaze

• ¾ jar good-quality, fine-cut marmalade
• 125ml golden rum

Ladeback69

Sound really good.  I currently have a fresh ham in a brine cure right now, but before I put it in I injected it with the brine mixture, which was added to one gallon of water was:
 1 cup up kosher salt
 1 cup of dark brown sugar
  1/4 cup or so of  Buffalo Trace Bourbon
 1 table spoon of of All Spice
  1/4 cup or so of 100% pure Maple syrup
  6 tea spoons of curing salt

It smelled pretty good mixing it up.  I think yo will be fine.

 

Simcan

Thanks...maybe I will do a variation on that with rum instead of bourbon, given the rest of the recipe.

Theophan

This sounds super good!  I'm always interested in the original source, so when you said it was Jamie Oliver's, I looked for his recipe, and found that it was slightly different.  His has no cinnamon, for example, uses shallots instead of onions, has more allspice and a lot more cloves, maybe some other things.

I'm tempted to try it your way because you've done it and everybody loved it, but it's hard not to want to try it the chef's way, too.  Have you tried it both ways?

Thanks!

Simcan

@Theophan funnily enough I almost mentioned that he has slightly different recipes online.  The one I use as my "base" is as above and found here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/jamies-best-ever-christmas/articles/all/creative-jerk-ham-recipe but in reality I don't follow any recipe exactly, ever, and I don't think you can go wrong. I have done it with and without cinnamon and I have used shallots and no shallots and I have used habaneros and not scotch bonnets. It is always amazing.

Theophan

That's interesting -- thanks for the information!  I guess I assumed a chef would only publish one version of a recipe, and that if some other site has it different, probably someone else changed it.  But I suppose chefs are like the rest of us, and often experiment, tweaking things, trying this or that.  Interesting that the same guy posted different recipes for the same dish online.

I always try to do a recipe the way it's written the first time, and it drives me crazy reading recipes online and wanting to know how other people liked it, only to find that maybe they weren't crazy about it but they didn't make it the way the creator of the recipe stated.  If I try it "their way" the first time, and I like it but I think it'd be better if I tweaked it somehow, I feel free to do so, and often do.  But I figure I might as well try it the way the chef did it the first time, see whether maybe no kidding, there's a reason he's the chef and I'm not.