Thermapen Recipes

Christmas Marmalade Glazed Gammon

No Christmas is complete without a sticky, smoky roast gammon joint. This recipe for marmalade glazed gammon is delicious on the day but makes great leftovers for a Boxing Day buffet, too. We've included the cooked temperature for gammon in the recipe to make cooking a succulent Christmas ham easy.

Roast gammon joint recipe

Ingredients

3kg unsmoked boneless gammon joint, tied
1 red onion, halved
2 celery sticks, cut into small pieces
2 carrots, unpeeled and cut into small pieces
small handful of cloves
⅓ of a jar of orange marmalade
1 large orange

Gammon Cooked Temperature

Ham or gammon should be cooked to 71 °C to be safe and delicious. We recommend using a leave-in meat thermometer like the DOT to alert you once it's done, then an instant-read meat thermometer like the Thermapen to spot-check all over.

Directions

A sticky glazed gammon partially sliced on a wooden chopping board with a christmas tree and fairy lights blurred in the background

First, you need to place the gammon joint into a large lidded saucepan and cover it with cold water.
Bring to the boil over a high heat and then drain.
Add fresh cold water into the pan along with the chopped onions, carrot and celery.
Bring to the boil again.
Reduce the heat, cover with a lid and let it simmer gently.
If your saucepan isn’t large enough to cover the joint fully, simply turn halfway through cooking.
Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a large roasting tin with aluminium foil.

Remove the gammon from the water once it reaches 71 °C on your Thermapen. Set aside to cool for around 20 minutes.
Use a small knife to remove the rind from the top of the gammon joint — be sure to leave as much fat as you can.
Once removed, score the fat in a diamond pattern. Push a clove into the centre of each cross where the lines meet.
Place the gammon joint into the roasting tin.

Bird's eye view of a sticky glazed gammon partially sliced on a wooden chopping board, the board is sat on a navy cloth and a weathered blue table with some oranges

A close-up of glazed gammon on a wooden chopping board next to some oranges with a christmas tree and fairy lights blurred in the background

Decant 1/3 of your orange marmalade into a ramekin and use a small basting brush (silicone works best) to evenly spread 1/2 of it across the top of the gammon.
Pop in the oven for ten minutes, then take the joint out and brush over the remaining marmalade.
Place the gammon joint back into the oven for another 15 minutes — be sure to rotate to ensure an even glaze.
You can also cut a few thin slices of orange and place them into the pan to brown up for decoration.
Once the top is golden, glossy and slightly brown, take it out of the oven and rest for 15 minutes before carving.