Dr Pepper ham

This is a cheap and easy meal to rustle up as long as you get ahead of yourself and leave the required time to prepare it.  Uncooked ham and bacon joints are three for £10 at the moment in places such as Sainsbury's and Asda and one joint will easily feed four or more people with a bit left over for sandwiches etc.  They come as smoked or unsmoked.  I prefer the unsmoked but it's personal choice all the way.  We do it quite often just to leave in the fridge to graze on.  They freeze well so buying them three at a time really isn't a problem!

Bung the joint in a pan which is about an inch larger all round.  Add an onion which has been peeled and chopped in half.  Fill the pan with Dr Pepper until the joint is just covered when the fizzing has stopped.  Cover and bring to the boil and then gently simmer for 90 minutes.  A bit of the liquid will disappear with the cooking so I turn the joint in the pan half way through.  Oh and don't remove the wax paper from around the meat until cooked and cooled as this will keep it in one piece whilst in the pan!

After 90 minutes turn off the heat and leave the meat to cool in the cooking liquid for an hour.  Remove when still warm.  It can be sliced and served at this point or stuck in the fridge, when completely cool, until you are ready for it.  If you try and carve it whilst too hot it all falls to pieces.

This evening we had ours with cheesy mash and some cabbage from Hadlow Farm Shop that had been sauteed in butter with a chopped apple and cream added towards the end of cooking.

I've done this with full fat coke, ginger beer (great as a cold summer alternative) and dry cider with a few whole black peppercorns...all work well.

I've also done this as a Christmas ham with a decent sized and better quality gammon joint.  Cooked a bit longer in full fat coke and cooled overnight.  Glazed with honey, mustard and brown sugar and baked in the oven until the glaze runs...delicious and a real crowd pleaser.