Finnish Christmas Ham

Finnish Christmas Ham – Joulukinkku… Hi, My name is Katriina and I have been a Christmas addict for over 40 years. There, I said it!

The food, the movies, the songs, the lights, everything gets pulled out and celebrated from the 1st of December, although the food prep starts earlier… I live and breathe Christmas for the entire month.

My sister and I now do the ham, she gets the most amazing Smoked Leg of Ham from The Free Range Butcher here in Sydney. It gets delivered to my house along with other meats to last for a few months. The aroma from the Smoked Ham is unbelievable, truly heaven. It is pricier than standard ham but the benefit of having such well kept, happy animals and the preparation of the meat after is that this ham freezes so well. After Christmas dinner has finished we divide the leftover ham between the 3 families and freeze the large chunks. We are happily eating ham for a couple of months after and it’s still as good as it was on Christmas Eve.

The traditional way is to cook the ham yourself and then assemble the crust (Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros) but being in Australia there isn’t much joy in having the oven on all day, unless you have air conditioning! Using a smoked leg of ham means you are just prepping the outside, but it also means the oven is free to cook all the other roasts and necessary accompaniments such as the casseroles (Swede casserole) and vegetables.

This ham is outstanding with its crunchy, sweet and hot crust protecting the glorious, smokey, juicy meat on the inside. I like to decorate with cute little characters but this year I will try to get a proper photo of the finished ham, before it’s devoured that is.

Ingredients

Method

Start by making your Finnish mustard. Ideally make it the day before so it has time to cool but it’s not absolutely necessary to do so.

Mix together the breadcrumbs and brown sugar then set aside.

Now the ham…

Remove it from the bag and set it on a large, clean surface.

With a sharp knife cut a zig zag around the skin near the bone.

Now the fun begins… with your fingers, get under the skin and start separating the skin from the fat. The idea is to keep as mush fat as possible so take your time with this step.

Unfortunately the skin can’t be used for crackling so just toss it, but if you want a faultless crackling recipe then click here. It’s my Perfect Pork Crackling tips.

Place the skinned ham in a large baking container. Use a disposable foil tray, it will make life a little easier for you on the day.

Using a knife, spread a fairly thick layer of the Finnish Mustard over all of the exposed flesh, making sure you get right under the ham also.

Press the sugar/breadcrumb mixture all over the mustard

Once completely cover with the crumb mixture, decorate the ham with the cloves. You can either go all over the top of the ham with the cloves or just do a ‘ribbon’ of cloves across the top like i’ve done in the picture.

Place in a pre heated 190°C / 375°F oven and cook for about 1 hour. It’s ready when the crust has turned golden brown.

Recommended for you…

5.0 from 1 reviews

Finnish Christmas Ham

 

Print

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

 

Author: FinSki's

Recipe type: Christmas Dinner

Cuisine: Finnish

Serves: 20

Ingredients

• Smoked leg of ham – make sure it fits in your oven
• 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup of Finnish Mustard – click for recipe
• 50 cloves or so
• Large foil tray

Method

1. Start by making your Finnish mustard. Ideally make it the day before so it has time to cool but it’s not absolutely necessary to do so.
2. Mix together the breadcrumbs and brown sugar then set aside.
3. Remove the ham from the bag and set it on a large, clean surface.
4. With a sharp knife cut a zig zag around the skin near the bone.
5. Now the fun begins… with your fingers, get under the skin and start separating the skin from the fat. The idea is to keep as mush fat as possible so take your time with this step.
6. Unfortunately the skin can’t be used for crackling so just toss it, but if you want a faultless crackling recipe then click here. It’s my Perfect Pork Crackling tips.
7. Place the skinned ham in a large baking container. Use a disposable foil tray, it will make life a little easier for you on the day.
8. Using a knife, spread a fairly thick layer of the Finnish Mustard over all of the exposed flesh, making sure you get right under the ham also.
9. Press the sugar/breadcrumb mixture all over the mustard.
10. Once completely cover with the crumb mixture, decorate the ham with the cloves. You can either go all over the top of the ham with the cloves or just do a ‘ribbon’ of cloves across the top.
11. Place in a pre heated 190°C / 375°F oven and cook for about 1 hour. It’s ready when the crust has turned golden brown.

3.2.2124