Featured as part of our Cooks and their Books series, this recipe comes courtesy of Australian food icon Margaret Fulton. Come Christmas or New Year, there is usually a baked glazed ham on our buffet table. Most often the ham is baked with the flavours of stout, sugar and spice, with the edges caramelised, so that each slice, with a lot of lean and a little fat, is a perfect mix of flavour.
I got this recipe from the Irish Tourist Board years ago and thought they were way ahead of the times using such unlikely ingredients. Although the ham is already cooked before being baked, further cooking with the stout helps to flavour the meat before the glaze is added. Baking continues at a higher temperature, with the sweet and spicy caramelised glaze really making this a special occasion dish. Look at doing a more economical picnic ham (the shoulder with the bone still attached) or a half leg for smaller family gatherings. Accompany the ham with a big bowl of still warm boiled new potatoes, tossed in butter, with a grinding of pepper and chopped parsley. Crusty bread, a large green salad and a choice of mustards are the other essentials.