Ham in Cherry Cola

Asked by pakeso70. Answered on 18th February 2016

Full question

I made the Ham In Cherry Coca Cola but why did I need to add red wine vinegar to the jam for the glaze? I had none and used sherry vinegar instead. Also I prefer to cook in advance and carve when cold, would this be a bad idea as it would mean heating it up again? Also is there anything I con do with the cherry coca cola in which the ham was cooked?

Our answer

Nigella has a version of her Ham In Cola in her book Feast that uses cherry Coca Cola rather than the original version. The glaze is a combination of cherry jam, spices and red wine vinegar. The acidity of the vinegar helps to slightly cut the sweetness of the glaze and the ham, but another vinegar such as sherry vinegar or cider vinegar would also add the same hint of sharpness.

The recipe suggests that the ham is served warm after cooking, however it is equally good cold so if you want to serve it cold then this is fine. After glazing cool and refrigerate the ham as quickly as possible. You can cover the ham with a loose tent of foil just before you put it in the fridge. It should be eaten within 3 days. If you want to reheat the ham, cook and reheat it following the instructions on p206 of Feast. The leftover cooking liquor is quite sweet, so we would not suggest using it for soup. However you could use it to cook a shredded head of red cabbage and Nigella also gives some suggestions for this on p206 of Feast.