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Julskinka - Swedish Christmas Ham
The main dish served on Christmas Eve is the 'julskinka', the traditional Christmas ham. Usually, a ham should last at least for a week and appear at almost all meals between Christmas Eve and New Years Day.
Ingredients
- 3 - 5 kg of salt-cured fresh ham
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
Method
Depending upon the method of salt curing it might be necessary to leave the ham overnight covered with water to desalt it.
Pre-heat the oven to 125 °C (240 °F). Insert an oven thermometer in the thickest part of the ham. Leave it in the oven until the temperature reaches 75°C (167F).
Remove the rind carefully and as much of the fat as you like. (With less fat left it is healthier but drier!)
Heat the oven to 225 °C (450F).
Mix egg, mustard and sugar.
Place the ham on a roasting-pan, cover it with the mixture and sift the breadcrumbs over if. They should stick to the egg-mustard mixture.
Bake the ham for 10 minutes in the oven.
When
ready, it should have a golden colour with a few deep brown but no black patches.
You can decorate by insert about 20 cloves into the top of the ham in a criss-cross pattern. Or decorate with sugar icing.
It is served at the Swedish Christmas smorgasbord and is the most dominating dish. Beside the ham you should find apple sauce, Swedish mustard, prunes, and it is good to find a vegetable salad too, e.g. cabbage and orange.
During the Christmas days we often use the ham as the main dish at dinner. In our household it is served with potatoes, braised red cabbage with apples, Brussels sprout, mustard and apple sauce.
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