The year was 2014 and Waitrose challenged me (the Spaniard, just in case you had forgotten) to come up with a Great British dish.

So, of course, I asked around: ham, egg and chips with proper ham! was the decision.

Now, I had never cooked ham and, most definitely, I had never cooked ham the British way. This was back in 2014 before my first Instant Pot and, most definitely, before I discovered the awesomeness that is pressure cooked Gammon.

Back then if you gave me a piece of gammon I would probably have stuck it in a huge pan with "grelos" (similar to kale or cavolo nero), chorizo and potatoes. I am a Galician Spaniard after all! I am good at research though and I did have the huge advantage of running my first Facebook group (the Thermomix one) which back then had over 500 members so, of course, I asked them all to fill me in with all their tips. A few minutes later two ways of cooking ham had caught my eye: Cranberry Ham and Cider Ham.

So, off I went to Waitrose (full of cold, on a Sunday). If you've been here a while, this was way before I became housebound and actually a couple of years before I started driving again.

Thank you so much to everyone at the Thermomix Owners UK group for the ideas and especially to Aveen and Clare for their cider and cranberry tips! I was amazed at the results and, courtesy of the lovely start to Autumn, I have to say that, after a lovely ham, egg and chips dinner last night, today this gave me the perfect opportunity to sit outside in the sun (which is actually rather warm for this time of September). I suggest a ham sandwich and coffee party when you cook these and, if you do, come back to tell me all about it!

Keep reading for the recipes and visit Waitrose's Great British Garden Party page for brilliant ideas to make the most of the early Autumn sun in your garden is still intact after the summer, if like mine it has unexpectedly been taken apart and it has turned into a mud pit... throw the party at someone else's garden. From Waitrose to décor Waitrose is not ready to let go of this wonderful summer we have had (hooray!). I also may or may not have spotted some gorgeous mugs while in there.

Cider Ham:

Ingredients for the ham:
- 1 unsmoked Waitrose gammon joint (mine was 1.802 kg)
- 6 cloves
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 2 litres Somersby cider

Ingredients for the glaze:
- 2 Bramley apples, cored and quartered, no need to peel
- 75 g water
- 1-2 tablespoon honey (depending how sweet you like it, I went with 2 after adding just one)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Ham:
1. Place the gammon joint (leave the string in) in a large saucepan, cover with the cider, add the bay leaves and cloves.

2. Bring to the boil over a high heat and then reduce the heat and let it simmer (mine simmered for over 2 hours.

Fat scored before glazing

3. Take the ham out making sure you place it on a dish that will catch the stock it will release or it will flood your worktop. I placed it in the Varoma with the lid underneath to catch any extra stock. Do NOT throw the stock away, it's gorgeous!

4. Preheat the oven to 200ºC (mine is a fan oven) while the ham stands for 15 minutes and you prepare the glaze as per instructions below or, of course, go for your favourite glaze. Take the string and the rind off (if it has any), leaving the fat, score the fat and coat the ham (all sides) with the glaze, into the oven it goes for approx. 10 minutes.

Glaze (Thermomix):
1. Place the apples and 75 g water in the Thermomix bowl: 30 seconds, speed 4.
2. Scrape down: 8 minutes, 90ºC, speed 4.
3. Add cinnamon and honey.
4. Purée: 30 seconds, speed 8. Taste and rectify if necessary.

Cranberry ham:

Ingredients for the ham:
- 1 smoked free range Waitrose gammon joint (mine was 1.192 kg)
- 2 litres of cranberry juice OR 1 litre of cranberry juice + 1 litre of orange juice
- 2 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- *optional 1 orange, sliced, peel and all


Ingredients for the glaze:
- Orange marmalade, about half a jar
- Honey, about 2 tablespoon but to taste really. You don't want it too sweet as you want to taste the orange.

Ham:
1. First thing to do is check how salty the ham is by cutting a little bit off and frying it in a dry pan until cooked, taste it, if it's really salty it will need soaking in fresh cold water for about 12 hours, changing the water once (oh the things one learns from watching lacón con grelos being cooked). If it's not too salty you can proceed.

2. {Skip this step if soaking ham as per step 1} My ham wasn't too salty so I placed it (with the string on) in a pan of fresh cold water with nothing else and brought it to the boil, then discarded that water.

3. Then it's time to cover the ham with the cranberry juice (top up with water if necessary), add the 2 star anise, the cinnamon stick, the bay leaf and the orange slices (if using) and bring to the boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes per 500 g. So mine didn't need very long really, probably about 50 minutes.

4. Let the ham stand in a receptacle that catches the stock (do NOT throw away any of the stock), turn the oven on to 200ºC, prepare the glaze below and smother the ham in it (all over, remove the string first), once oven is preheated, stick the ham in for 10 minutes or so. Done!

Glaze:

1. Mix both ingredients (orange marmalade and honey) well and coat the ham all over. If just using cranberry sauce, just smother the ham in it.

Ham, egg and chips

Stick the chips in the air fryer, slice the ham, fry one or two eggs. Done! I leave the decision of pineapple or no pineapple to you.

Disclosure: I was sent a £60 Waitrose/John Lewis gift card which I put to good use to buy the ingredients so I could experiment. Then I paid about £28 on top of that as I needed sophisticated things such as toilet paper, chopped tomatoes, milk etc. for the house.

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