Before you start you need a long, thin, sharp carving knife. Place the ham on a stable carving surface or ham stand.

Stage one This shows the different cuts that will be made to the ham. ‘A’ is the first piece to slice. The meat should be cut parallel to the thighbone.

 Stage two Hold the knuckle of the ham to stop it from moving and slice the section marked ‘A’.   Stage three Keep taking slices until you come up to the thighbone.

Stage four Now start to slice section ‘B’. Take off the corner of fat in one piece, then cut squarely to the thighbone. This will remove any of the hard outside flesh.

 Stage five Slices can now be taken from section ‘C’, which is where the prime and juiciest meat is found.   Stage six Once you have finished carving the ham there should be very little left on the bone.

 

 

 Your ham should keep for up to three weeks, and not necessarily in the fridge so long as you have a cool room or larder.  

1 Remove the ham from the packaging and place on a plate. Put this in your larder or fridge. Make sure that cooked meat is above all raw meat to avoid contamination.

2 Cover loosely with kitchen foil, cling film or a clean tea cloth.

3 Change the plate that the ham is on every day and replace the cling film or kitchen foil, to stop a build up of moisture under the ham.

  

4 Any surplus can be frozen – slice it into manageable portions and place in freezer bags. This way you can defrost small amounts when you need it rather than defrost the whole ham.

5 To defrost put it in the fridge to thaw slowly over night. Never put it into warm water to defrost.