Christmas Ham Joulukinkku Recipes

CHRISTMAS HAM (JOULUKINKKU)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 100 - 125°C.
• Rinse ham with cold water and pat dry.
• Put in a roasting bag and cut a small hole on top of the bag. Push a roasting thermometer into the thickest part of the ham.
• Put the ham on the rack in the oven (or a cookie sheet with sides, if you prefer. IF the roasting bag leaks, you may have a big mess in your oven without the sheet!).
• Bake until the thermometer shows the internal temperature of the ham to be 75-80 C (juicy - well done). It will take about 45 - 55 minutes/1 kg (2 lbs).
• Remove the bag carefully: save some of the pan juice for making gravy. Remove the net (if there is one!), skin and as much of the fat as you like.
• Let ham sit for a few hours or to cool completely before coating.
• Preheat oven to 225°C.
• Mix mustard and honey and coat the ham with the mixture. Press dry breadcrumbs on the coating.
• Bake for about 10 minutes or until browned.
• Decorate the surface of the ham with cloves.
• Serve with gravy, boiled potatoes, root vegetable casseroles and boiled prunes.

JOULUKINKKU JAMON DE NAVIDAD

Steps:

• 1. You need one fresh ham with skin on. 2. Make gashes over entire surface of ham. 3. Rub with mixture of equal portions of salt, sugar and saltpeter. 4. Force the salt from the bony end of the ham as far as possible into the meaty portion. 5. Allow to stand in a cool place overnight. 6. On following day, place ham in 20% salt solution. 7. Let stand in salt solution for 2 weeks. 8. Check water and turn ham over several times during this period. 9. After 2 weeks, remove ham from water, and drain - discarding water. 10. Make a very thick dough using rye flour and water. 11. Roll dough out to 3.4 inch thickness. 12. Completely encase the ham with the rolled out rye crust. 13. Make sure ham is well sealed with crust. 14. Bake in slow oven for 1 hour for 1st two pounds, and 45 minutes for each additional pound. 15. When ham is done, remove rye crust and remove skin with a sharp knife. 16. Spread the surface of ham with a 1/8th inch coating of Finnish-style mustard (see below). 17. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and brown sugar, patting them down firmly. 18.( At this point, I would add cloves, as in recipe #2). 19. Brown ham in moderate oven for about 30 minutes. 20. After removing ham from oven, you could garnish with cooked prunes. 21. Each pound of ham serves about 3 people.