Ham cooked in beer
================== 2020-11-09


Comment: This is a small rolled shoulder ham, without bone, weighing just 1 kg, ideal for 4 people. The first time, it seemed that my ham was precooked, and I just cooked it to an internal temperature of 65C. The second time around, it looks like it was not cooked and 65C turned out to be insufficient. Consider 70C.
For the choice of cooking liquid, use a non-bitter beer, for example a white beer or a Guinness?
If the ham is not precooked, it is probably too salty, desalt it by soaking it in water for 12 hours and change it once.
Use a small Dutch oven or oven-safe casserole the size of ham so you don't have to add too much beer. No need to cover the ham, but to submerge it ~70%. For the final cooking temperature, it can be tested with a thermometer, or use the oven's temperature probe.
For the sauce, in the end, it's a test. The last time, with an amber beer, the sauce was bitter, despite the Port and the sugar, and hardly usable ...

4 people

Ingredients:
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1 ham of 1 kg
4 cloves
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs of thyme
~10 + peppercorns
~0.5 l of beer (see text)
1 schlook from Porto or Madeira
Mustard
sugar or brown sugar
S + P

Preparation:
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Preheat the oven to 150C (pre-cooked ham) or 160C (uncooked ham).

Remove the fillet around the ham.

Brush the ham with mustard on all sides and place it in the pot.
Arrange the spices around the ham, and add the beer.
Cook, uncovered, slowly (2 to 3 hours) to the required temperature (65C or 70C depending on the ham).

Once the ham is cooked, keep it covered (under a sheet of aluminum).

Strain the juice to remove the spices, add 1 good Port or Madeira schlook, 2 pinches of sugar and reduce by half. Check if it is usable.

Serve the sliced ham with the sauce.