24 Hour Sous Vide Ham in Whisky, Lemon & Brown Sugar

Before we start talking about my sous vide ham, let me tell you how much I love ham all year around but especially as we start to edge towards the festive season. Every year on Christmas Eve my mum baked a ham and I remember the smell of it wafting up the stairs as I lay in bed too excited to sleep. As I reached my teens I was allowed to sneak a little bit whilst my younger siblings were in bed and help with the Christmas preparations – which normally involved my mum panicking that one child’s pile of gifts was smaller than the others.

I have made ham in every way, baking, boiling, slow cooking and by my very favourite method – sous vide. When you cook any meat in a Sous Vide ( water bath ) you set a temperature, generally the recommended temperature for food safety and you only cook the meat to that temperature. If you cook a joint of meat by any other method you will always have to get the outer layer of the meat to a far higher temperature just to enable the centre to reach the minimum temp. This means your meat can often be dry or chewy or lacking flavour – or at worst, all three. Sous Vide meat is like butter in your mouth, ah if you haven’t tried it then you really need to. By vacuum packing the meat you ensure that all of the juices remain leading to moist and succulent meat and the best gravy or sauces you will ever make.

24 Hour Sous Vide Ham in Whisky, Lemon & Brown Sugar

You will need:

Smoked ham joint – mine was approximately 2kg

For the first marinade:

150ml whisky

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

125g brown sugar

5-10 cloves

good pinch of sea salt and black pepper

Final glaze:

100ml whisky

1/2 juices from Ham

200g brown sugar

good pinch of sea salt and black pepper

Add your marinade ingredients to a small saucepan and simmer until you have a sticky sauce. Allow to cool. Place your ham into a vacuum bag and pour over your glaze, use your hands to rub into the meat. Seal your bag and place into your Sous Vide, set to a temperature of 62C and leave for 24 hours.

After 24 hours remove from bag, retain juices. Pour half of the juices away and add the rest to a pan with the remaining final glaze ingredients and simmer until you have a thick and sticky glaze. Pour over your meat and pop into a very hot oven for 15 minutes – alternatively you could pop under a hot grill or use a blow torch as this stage is mostly for aesthetic reasons. Leave to rest and carve thinly.

I served this to my family at a bonfire night party and I am really looking forward to making it again over the festive period. Ham is good for a few days after cooking so it is a really handy dish to make in preparation for a party or just to have with salads and potatoes in those filler days between Christmas and New Years!

Next week I will be sharing a collection of ham recipes from myself and fellow food bloggers so keep an eye out for that!