Yeah! One of my favorite times of the year is close by. For some reasons which I am unable to figure out at the moment, apart from the birth of Jesus Christ, my brain tends to associate Christmas with food and food and plenty of it. As you continue reading you will see some great recipes you can try for this Christmas.
Have you ever tried the Chile-brined fresh Ham recipe? If not, you should try it this Christmas; You should however know that the process to preparing this recipe is long, you are best advised to start the preparation at least two days to Christmas.
Ingredients
- 4 cups kosher salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 6 quarts cold water
- 1 cup black peppercorns, crushed
- 5 ounces Thai or serrano chilies, stemmed and finely chopped
- 8 whole cloves
- 4 cups ice cubes
- One 18-pound, bone-in fresh ham, with skin
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
How to make
Step 1
Start by combining salt and sugar with 2 quarts of water in a big saucepan. Allow the water to boil moderately, after the sugar and water have been evenly dissolved, pour the brine into a large pot, together with the peppercorns, chilies and cloves. Then add the remaining 4 quarts of water and ice, still all till the ice melts, leaving the brine at room temperature. Now add the ham, skin side up and brine the ham in the fridge for a whole day (24 hours).
Step 2
The following day, preheat the oven to 400o, remove the ham from the brine and brush off the peppercorns and cloves. Then put the ham skin side up in a roasting pan and allow it stand in a room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Step 3
Roast the ham for one hour, pour water in, reduce the oven heat to 300o and roast ham for about 22 hours and allow it rest for 30 minutes.
Step 4
Strain the pan juices into a saucepan, skip off the ham and divide into two, then slice the meat to apportioned sizes and serve with the and crisp skin.
image couresy: foodandwine.com, pngall.com, ebay.com.
