The Perfect Christmas Ham
A ham is considered a centrepiece on many Christmas tables.
At Gamekeepers, you'll find the best Christmas ham. Our pasture-raised Berkshire Ham is the wagyu of the pork world. It’s prized for its juiciness, flavour and tenderness, ensuring your Christmas feast is nothing short of spectacular.
We have partnered with Raven's Creek Pork for our free-range Berkshire Pork. Located in the pristine region of Moriac, 22km west of Geelong. The farm raises true free-range, pasture-raised Berkshire pigs without cages or fixed sheds, and the farm is entirely chemical free.
Our master butchers further enhance this premium pork with a unique three-stage smoking process using Victorian Mountain Ash wood chips, delivering an unparalleled flavour profile. Each ham is crafted from a single pork leg, with no tumbling, emulsifiers, or extenders. The starting weight matches the final product, ensuring exceptional quality in every ham.
This glaze recipe is simple but a true crowd pleaser. One year, we deviated from this recipe and our kids are still talking about it for all the wrong reasons!
INGREDIENTS
- Raven’s Creek Free Range Berkshire Whole Ham (approx. 7kg)
- 800ml orange juice
- 300g brown sugar
- Cloves
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
- Water when needed
COOKING YOUR GAMEKEEPERS HAM
- Making the glaze: Place orange juice, brown sugar and mustard seeds in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Stir and bring to boil until sugar dissolves and turn off the heat.
- Cooking the Ham: Preheat oven to 150°C. Line a large, deep roasting pan with baking paper. Using a small sharp knife, cut around the ham shank, then carefully run the knife under the skin around the edge of the ham.
- Gently lift off the skin in one piece by running your fingers between the skin and the fat.
- To elevate your ham to a show-stopping centrepiece, score the fat in a diamond pattern (about 5mm deep).
- Stud the centres of each diamond with a clove. Not only is it decorative, it also creates lovely pockets of crusty glaze in the corners of each diamond.
- Pour the glaze over the ham & put on the lowest shelf in the oven. Baste the ham every 20 mins with the glaze from the pan. If using a meat thermometer, aim for about 38°C core temperature. The ham will take approximately 2hr 45mins to cook. If the glaze in the pan gets too thick, just add a little water to the glaze to loosen the caramel. Once the ham is cooked add remaining glaze from the pan into a jug to serve alongside your delicious ham.
- Storing your ham: Dip your ham bag in a solution of 2 cups cold water & 1 tbsp vinegar. Wring out the bag and place ham inside. Rinse and re-dip in a fresh solution every 3 days to keep the bag moist. Make sure you wash the bag before use. We recommend using a new bag for every new ham.
TIP: Take your ham out of the fridge 3 hrs prior to cooking or leave out overnight to let it come up to room temperature.
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GAMEKEEPERS MEAT
Leaving the bone in, is very old-school ham, and done for good reason. Any butcher will tell you they are not only more attractive, they are hands down, more flavourful. We take great pride in the 3 stage smoking process, which cooks the meat at a very low temperature over the Victoria Mountain Ash Wood chips because it really does deliver such a unique eating experience.
Locally sourced Berkshire pork from Raven's Creek Farm, located in Moriac (only 22km west from Geelong). Raven's Creek Farm raise true free range purebred Berkshire pigs - it's what they pride themselves on. They farm without cages or fixed sheds and the farm is completely chemical free. Berkshire pork is prized for its juiciness, flavour and tenderness and you will taste the superior difference.
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This is an inspirational guide only; recipe details and cooking information are a freestyle cooking process and are not to be taken as exact. Finished results may vary, if looking for a detailed cooking guide we recommend searching for more options on Google.
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