Honey Roasted Pork

A Christmas recipe that can be prepared ahead of time.

To talk about gatherings is to talk about food. In these special moments, you can’t miss a few glasses of wine, nor dishes to share, like roast pork or roast ham. This recipe, as popular as suckling pig or baked lamb, can be prepared ahead of time, allowing you to sit at the table and enjoy those endearing moments with loved ones.

Choose a piece of ham based on the number of guests you will be hosting. Calculate about 400 grams per person. Ask the butcher to make some cuts on the leg or debone the pork and reserve the juices.

Prepare a good glaze of honey and aromatics to create a tasty coating, giving flavor to the meat. You can also glaze with honey and add ginger, orange, quince, apricots or a touch of mustard.

When cutting the meat, you will have to use a carving fork and a sharp knife to make slices. Avoid cutting the entire piece at once so that the meat does not dry out and so that you can reheat it later.

Ingredients for 8 servings

•  75 g honey
• 15 g fresh ginger
• 50 g brown sugar
• Ground black pepper
• 25 g of water
• 2.5 kg ham leg
• 3 carrots
• 2 red onions
• 5 cloves of garlic

Step by step preparation

1. Mix honey with ginger (peeled and grated), brown sugar, water and a pinch of ground black pepper.
2. Cover the ham leg with the glaze and let it marinate for a minimum of 8 hours, or overnight if possible.
3. Remove from the refrigerator 1 hour before roasting to bring to room temperature.
4. Transfer the ham to a baking dish with the vegetables, peeled and roughly chopped. Pour a glass of water into the dish and season.
5. Transfer to the oven (preheated to 180ºC). Roast for 45-50 minutes, covering occasionally with the honey and ginger glaze.
6. Remove the ham from the oven and let it cool a few minutes before removing the mesh, then cut into thin slices.
7. Remove the vegetables and place in a serving dish together with the sliced ham.
8. Strain the juices and serve with the meat and vegetables.

‘Harmonies in Flavors and Fragrances’ by Juan Muñoz Ramos.

This pork is an interesting dish whose recipe has its origin in the three monotheistic religions, referring to the use of honey in Judaism and Islam and pork in Christianity, a beautiful combination of flavors and traditions. Honey is an ancient ingredient that was used by the oldest civilizations of the East and the Mediterranean.

But let’s talk about this tasty dish, which we could also say has a «high umami level», paraphrasing the food trends a bit. Taste, smoothness, fattiness, and intense aromas, flavors and fragrances that have the ability to transport us.

And what next? Two drinks that, thanks to their composition and elegance, manage to counterbalance this dish and bring joy.

We’re talking about S.Pellegrino, where a first sip cleanses us and marks our palate, requesting something elegant and forceful. For that reason we have selected Iohannes red wine, a somewhat unknown Penedés, but that is a marvelous wine in body, richness, and elegance. Such a dish demands water and wine in perfect harmony to achieve the highest level of culinary excellence.

 Tricks

•  This roast can be prepared with another cut of pork, such as the tenderloin, adjusting the cooking time depending on the weight of the piece of meat. You can also grill the whole ham, bone-in, which is perfect when cooking for many guests.
• Other combinations of ingredients to season the meat could be, for example, quince jam, honey, lemon and cumin; orange marmalade and brown sugar; or apricot jam, white wine and mustard vinegar.
• We can reduce the juices to concentrate their flavor and at the same time achieve a more gravy-like texture. However, we can also thicken the glaze by adding a small amount of cornmeal and simmering.

Make it a perfect meal with our  Tuna Poke Bowl… find the step-by-step recipe here!

End this amazing meal with a Cheesecake with Strawberrys, click here to see the complete recipe.