ADSactly Food - 🎄 Adsactly Christmas Ham 🎄

in #food7 years ago (edited)

cover.jpg

It's that time of the year! Holidays, and food galore. We at Adsactly wish all our wonderful followers a fantastic Festive Season! And to those who don't celebrate - follow along on this indulgent recipe, and learn all about the history of the Christmas feast.


Buon Natale / Joyeux Noël / God Jul / Feliz Navidad / Христос се роди / C рождеством! / Crăciun Fericit / Wesołych Świąt / Maligayang Pasko / क्रस्मसको शुभकामना / Selamat Hari Natal / 메리 크리스마스 / শুভ বড়দিন / Zalig Kerstfeest / Frohe Weihnachten / Veselé Vánoce / Sretan Božić / 圣诞快乐 / E ku odun / Idara ukapade isua / Geseënde Kersfees / Merry Christmas!


I tried hard to find Merry Christmas in the language of all of our followers! If I didn't include your language, please comment below.

Before I share this amazing recipe with you, let me first tell you a little about the origins of the Christmas celebration feast, and why today we eat a gammon at this time of year.


freyr.jpg

The Norse god Freyr, upon his majestic boar. source

Although the first recorded feast was celebrated in 336AD, in Rome, the eating of a ham or pig actually has its roots in Germanic Pagan history. Traditionally, in ancient Norse times, a wild boar was sacrificed to the Norse god Freyr, asking him to show favour on his people in the new year.

Freyr was mainly associated with prosperity, good weather and fertility. In England, and throughout Scandinavia, it is thought that St Stephen inherited some of Freyr's characteristics. A side note - in Western Christianity, St Stephen's Day is the 26th December, now celebrated as Boxing Day, in most countries.

Pope Julias the First declared 25th December as "Christmas" in the 4th century, tying this celebration in with the observance of the winter solstice already celebrated by many other Pagan cultures, and with this, came the eating of boar, and in today's times - ham.

🌈🌈So interesting, right?!🌈🌈


Here is what I made this Christmas; a lovely, sticky, tender gammon, cooked for twelve hours in a mixture of treacle and maple syrup.

INGREDIENTS

(serves four)

  • 2kg gammon
  • 125ml treacle
  • 125ml maple syrup
  • two cloves garlic, smashed
  • handful of cloves
  • 1 T Dijon mustard
  • 4 T Demerara sugar
  • more treacle! 🙌 🙌 🙌 (4 T)
  • tinfoil

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 250'C/450'F. Prepare your baking tray by lining it with tinfoil and placing the rack over tinfoil.

IMG_4654.jpg

Place two layers of tinfoil on flat surface, shiny surface down. Lay your gammon in the center of the tinfoil neatly.

IMG_4655 copy.jpg

Drizzle the ham with the treacle and maple syrup. No need for salt as the ham itself is smoked, and quite salty.

IMG_4661.GIF

Place the garlic into the tinfoil, and wrap your gammon quite tightly. By doing this, you are making sure that no moisture escapes, and it all goes directly back into your ham.

IMG_4678 copy.jpg

Blast for thirty minutes at 250'C/450'F, and then turn down your oven to 100'C/212'F. Cook for 12 hours at this low heat. You can actually cook this for up to 24 hours, depending on how much time you have.

Your home will smell like candied bacon, and you will want to bash your cats on the head with tinsel, and make them sing Jingle Bells on repeat. 🎄

cat christmas gif.gif

In the meantime you can prepare your veg, or whatever sides you choose. I chose to roast carrots, garlic, potatoes and shallots with rosemary and maple syrup.

Once the twelve hours have passed, it is time for the great unveiling of the ham. Cue the fanfare and cherubs.

IMG_4696.GIF

The ham will be blackened and crispy, and smell heavenly 🎄 Discard the tinfoil, but keep the juices aside. Place the ham on the baking tray, and carefully cut the hard skin off. Increase the oven temp to 200'C/400'F.

IMG_4703.jpg

Once you have removed the skin, score the fat in diamond shaped movements. Stud each diamond with a clove.

IMG_4705 copy.jpg

In a small bowl, mix the leftover juices, a bit of Demerara sugar, more treacle and the Dijon mustard, keeping the ratio 4:1 (1 T mustard for every four T treacle) Brush the fat with this mixture, and bake the ham for a further 20 minutes, or until the fat is crispy and brown.

IMG_4709.jpg

Rest for about fifteen minutes before carving.

IMG_4714.jpg

I then used the leftover juices to make a sauce, which we poured over the ham. I actually cannot describe the tenderness. I have never had ham, so moist, and so gorgeously, yet, so subtly flavoured. The treacle gives the ham an almost caramel flavour, but much deeper and darker.

This was a truly decadent meal, fit for a god - Freyr - you there?

Hope you enjoyed this recipe, and your Christmas too!

Many thanks - @princessmewmew

mewmewfooter.jpg

🌸🌸 to find out more about Adsactly, come join us in our Discord channel here 🌸🌸

DQmd5CQG5zLjjm2z8289qcLU6eBHJpC5FmgtR3aC1eXnhsi.png

Please vote @adsactly-witness for your Steemit witness. If you are unsure as to how, please ask in our Discord channel (click on the big coin)

Sort:  

Didn't know you are also multilingual or is ....ahem...Google translate helping? :)

Seeing that treacle drip on top of the ham is the most satisfying thing I have seen this week, sadly this post is NSFHP (Not Suitable For Hungry People), and it is 11.09AM here, and I am yet to have my breakfast :)

Can I have one? Thanks for sharing now I am off to have my breakfast.

heehehe! Google translate did help me out a little.

You made me laugh with your NSFHP :)

I thought as much. Good one :)

hehe! thank you.

well this adsactly food recipe with the history of ham this i think the best recpie of today and it look tasty and now we will try to make it but after 5 days of christmass if u shared it before some day ago sure we try it for make christmass with this best and historicle recpie...to see this recpie sure we choose a name adsactly foods like a brand...also thanx to @princessmewmew who make it more delecious and tasty with u and u share this great ham recpie

Christmas + food i mean delicious food are the best combination ever imagin you are at place where snowfall is going on and you are inside your home and eating delicious food.
Look like a heaven so. @ADsactly you are a great you giving us great recipies which are awesome i appreciate your work that why i following you keep it up waiting for your next post

That ham looks so sumptuously made. Would be nice to have with some fresh vegetables and a glass of red wine. Cheers!

yummy))

Phwooaar that looks amazing!! I love the idea of the treacle and the decadence it gives!! Top feasting!

hehe! It was actually super amazing! thanks for your comment, ol' Boom. :)

You have some really hairy hands there @princessmewmew

lol... might they belong to a certain Mork?

I love your kitties with their hats on! so cute!

Such a nice recipe but sadly I don't think we have the ingredients here in Nigeria. In my language we say Isélógbé to wish a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe.

You can use a pork roast too! I put E ku odun / Idara ukapade isua for Nigeria, but I know there are a few dialects! Thank you for your comment, upvoted because it is so genuine!!

@adsactly food, written by @adsactly, how more personable can this post be? I'd like to say @adsactly but instead I'll just say exactly.

Thanks for the work you put into it, not only with the photos, the explanation, but the recipe too. :)

Very nice!