So a few more days to come and it's going to be CHRISTMAS!!! Not really my favorite holiday of the year. Redundant christmas songs and irrelevant remixes, but other than it's fine. We've been preparing for next week! So many christmas parties to attend and so many things to buy. We're done with our decorations and we've been thinking of what to prepare on christmas eve. I tried making my own ham from scratch. From an uncured piece of hind leg, to curing it for days and baking it in the oven. But here are some photos from our house...
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| accents |
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| by the stairs |
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| more balls |
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| and our tree |
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| the wreath by the kitchen |
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| and we have a 2D running sleigh by the pool |
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| seminarians from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate came to sing |
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| and that's my nephew Uno. he's into candles. |
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| but obviously not into trees. |
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| a rustic centerpiece with fake berries and dusted twigs |
CHRISTMAS HAM 101
Okay so a few days ago I did my very first ham. And what helped me during the process is this book which I got by Michael Ruhlman and Bryan Polcyn called "Charcuterie, the craft of salting, smoking and curing" ... So here goes the recipe
For the meat, youll be needing a fresh hind leg without the bone. It must be fresh, uncured and round. So for curing youll be needing these
3 kilos of hind leg, skin removed, without the bone
3 liters water
1 cup of kosher salt OR 1/2 cup of table salt
1 1/2 cup of brown sugar
6 teaspoons of pink salt (praque powder)
so to cure it, you must put it in a large stock pot enough to fit the whole meat. It must be sanitized and well cleaned. Mix all the curing ingredients until dissolved and put in the meat. The meat must be submerged in the curing liquid at all times, so to put weight on it, put a large heavy plate on top of the meat to keep it submerged. Put in the fridge and keep it cold. Keep it in the fridge until done. It will cure at the rate of 2 pounds per day. A large ham will take about a week. You will know it's done when the meat is firm at its thickest part.
Rinse it off and use it anyway you want. You can fry it right away or you can smoke it for 2 hours with your wood chips. I prefer using Tobasco Wood Chips. So after that here comes the GLAZEEE...
GLAZE
1 cup of orange marmalade
4 tbsps of honey mustard or equal parts of honey and dijon
Cloves
Score the ham in diamonds and stud each center with a clove. Preheat the over for 165-170 degrees Celsius. Brush the ham with the half of the glaze and put it on top of a rack with a tray below it lined with foil. Bake it for an hour and brush it again with the rest of the glaze and put it back in the oven for 30 mins or until golden. When you feel that your house is starting to smell like a deli shop, you're doing it right. Rest it for 20 mins to lock the juices inside and serve. OHH LOVE YOU GUYS!!!
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| TADAH!!! |
xoxo BABINELLAs
