Perfect ham secret shared 

It is a tradition to serve a glazed ham at Christmas, a leg of moistened, warmed through ham glazed with a mixture of something sweet and a little bit of spice.

For a local’s unique and beloved way of glazing ham for Christmas, we had the privilege of visiting the Kyabram Main St Butcher and acquiring Troy Pycock’s mum’s one-of-a-kind recipe for glazed ham.

Troy’s mum, Janet, was handed this recipe from an American friend, Lynn.

Troy, the new owner of Kyabram Main St Butcher, now raises pigs locally for his Goulburn Valley Pork brand, bringing farm-fresh ham and pork to our community.

Troy and his wife Abby, along with their three children, lovingly raise heritage Berkshire Hampshire cross free-range pigs and beef on their family farm in Wyuna.

Here is the recipe for Baked Glazed Ham:

Ingredients

Half a leg of Goulburn Valley ham

1¼ cups of apricot jam

¼ cup of brown sugar

Optional: 2 tsp of Dijon mustard

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180℃.

2. Combine the jam, sugar and mustard in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.

3. Remove the rind from the ham, leaving as much fat as possible. You may need to ask your butcher to do this for you.

4. Make cross cuts in the ham to hold the glaze, creating a diamond pattern.

5. Place the ham on an oven tray and pour an even amount of glaze over it, getting the glaze into all the cuts.

6. Cook at 180 °C for approximately 1 hour. A rule of thumb is 15 minutes for every kilo of weight.

7. You will need to baste the ham every 30 minutes to keep the glaze oozing into the meat.

Get your hands on Goulburn Valley Pork at Kyabram Main St Butchers, or visit their stall at the Echuca Farmers’ Market and other nearby regional markets.

Troy strongly recommends ordering your hams as early as possible, as stock is limited, for pick-up the weekend before Christmas.

This will ensure you’re well-prepared for the festive season.

While apricot jam works wonderfully, why not try an exciting twist?

For an extra flavour kick, grab a jar of Cherry and Black Pepper jam from Quincey Jones Jelly at the Echuca Farmers’ Market.

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This article was taken from an article I wrote for McPherson Media Group, Riverine Herald Christmas Gift Guide, page 4. 

You can find it below.

A couple of other notes: due to the tyranny of distance, I couldn't just pop up to Ky and grab pork from the Ky Main Street Butchery, so like normal, I relied on Matt at Rosedale Butchers for the ham in the recipe and photo.