Cloved Ham

Slow-cooked gammon studded with whole cloves, glazed with honey, English mustard and dark sugar until lacquered and caramelised

Origin: England & Northern Europe

From the journey of Cloves.

The practice of studding a cured ham with whole cloves before roasting it is one of the most evocative preparations of the English and northern European Christmas table, and one of the clearest demonstrations of how completely the clove became embedded in the seasonal food culture of cultures that had no native access to it. The practice is documented in English recipe collections from the seventeenth century onwards, following the Dutch VOC's flooding of European markets with Maluku cloves in the early 1600s, which reduced their price sufficiently that they became a common household spice rather than the exclusive preserve of the wealthy. Before that moment, the image of a ham studded with dozens of cloves would have been a display of conspicuous wealth; afterwards, it became a domestic Christmas tradition. The logic of the cloved ham is both aesthetic and culinary. The cloves, pressed into the scored fat at each diamond junction, anchor the glaze as it caramelises, provide a warm, sweet-spicy note to the lacquered surface, and perfume the meat as it roasts. The glaze (honey, dark sugar, English mustard, and a splash of cider vinegar) caramelises to a deep mahogany in the oven's heat, producing a surface that shatters at the first cut like lacquer. The meat beneath is soft, salty, and yielding from its long initial boil. The cloves are decorative, aromatic, and culinary all at once: a summary of their seven-thousand-mile journey from the Maluku Islands to an English Christmas table in a single gesture.

Ingredients

Ham

2 kg bone-in or boneless gammon joint (smoked or unsmoked, as preferred)

Boiling

1 onion, halved
2 bay leaves
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 litre dry cider or apple juice (or water if preferred)

Studding

30–40 whole cloves (enough to stud each diamond of the scored fat)

Glaze

3 tbsp runny honey
2 tbsp dark muscovado or demerara sugar
2 tbsp English mustard (hot, not Dijon)
1 tbsp cider vinegar or apple cider vinegar
½ tsp ground cloves (optional: amplifies the clove flavour in the glaze)

Method

Place the gammon in a large pot and cover with the cider or apple juice (and top up with water if needed to submerge). Add the onion halves, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Bring to the boil, skim any grey foam, reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes per 500g (so 1 hr 20 mins for a 2 kg joint). The gammon is done when a skewer slides through without resistance.
Remove the gammon from the pot and allow to cool until handleable, about 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C / 390°F / Gas 6. Carefully peel away the skin, leaving as much of the fat layer intact as possible. Using a sharp knife, score the fat in a crosshatch diamond pattern, cutting down to (but not through) the meat.
Stud a whole clove into the centre of each diamond of scored fat, pressing it in firmly.
Mix together all the glaze ingredients (honey, sugar, mustard, cider vinegar, and ground cloves if using) until combined. Brush half the glaze generously all over the fat surface of the ham.
Place the ham fat-side up on a rack in a roasting tin. Roast for 25–30 minutes, brushing with the remaining glaze at 10-minute intervals, until the surface is a deep mahogany and the glaze is caramelised and lacquered. Watch carefully in the final 10 minutes: the sugar can go from beautifully dark to burnt quickly.
Allow to rest for 15–20 minutes before carving. Serve warm or at room temperature. The cloves in the fat are decorative and not meant to be eaten: guests should push them aside. Serve with mustard, pickles, and jacket potatoes or crusty bread.

Notes

The cloves studded into the fat are eaten around, not with the meat, they are there for aroma and aesthetics rather than direct flavour. Reminding guests of this avoids the unpleasant experience of biting into a whole clove, which is intensely aromatic and medicinal at full strength. English mustard (Colman's powder mixed to a paste, or the prepared variety) is essential for the glaze, it has a heat and sharpness that Dijon cannot replicate. The ham is excellent cold the following day in sandwiches with English mustard and chutney.

The Gastrographer

Name: Cloved Ham
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h 45 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: England & Northern Europe
Ingredients: 2 kg bone-in or boneless gammon joint (smoked or unsmoked, as preferred); 1 onion, halved; 2 bay leaves; 1 tsp black peppercorns; 1 litre dry cider or apple juice (or water if preferred); 30–40 whole cloves (enough to stud each diamond of the scored fat); 3 tbsp runny honey; 2 tbsp dark muscovado or demerara sugar; 2 tbsp English mustard (hot, not Dijon); 1 tbsp cider vinegar or apple cider vinegar; ½ tsp ground cloves (optional: amplifies the clove flavour in the glaze)

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control