Ham in Cherry Coke - a winner for Xmas and New Year

We are a committed family pork eaters and at Christmas our home cooked ham is something of a centre piece.

This is a favourite recipe adapted from a Nigella one - she serves hers as a main course meat and doesn't put the cherry jam on the outside.

What you need is a large piece of boiling ham, a 2 litre bottle of cherry coke, cloves and cherry jam, preferably with pieces of cherry in it.

First put your ham in a large saucepan then cover completely with cherry coke. Bring to boil then simmer for around 2 hours (or for however long is recommended on the packaging for cooking with this method. Remove from cherry coke and put into a roasting tin then stud with cloves and cover the top evenly with cherry jam. Roast in the oven on about 180 degrees for around half an hour.

Serve either hot or cold. The cherry coke and jam doesn't make the ham taste of cherries but does make it gloriously sweet and extra delicious!
My friend Keith has done a variation on this using ham hock for a more everyday meal over at Reluctant House Dad.