Christmas ham
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The Christmas Ham is an ancient traditional ingredient in the Finnish and Swedish Christmas celebration and remains as important there as the Christmas tree.
Before the arrival of Christianity to Scandinavia, a boar, the wild ancestor of the pig, was sacrificed to the god Freyr at the Yule celebrations and eaten (see Blót). This tradition of butchering a pig at Christmas continued after the Christianization and survives as several dishes (sausages and bread dipped in pork fat) of which the Christmas ham is the most central. Also the Germanic people had a similar celebration as did the ancient Romans, who sacrificed a pig to the Roman god Saturn about the same time Christmas is celebrated nowadays.
Among commoners, the Christmas ham was usually saved for the summer, whereas more wealthy people ate it at Christmas.
Traditional Christmas ham recipe: (recipe for a boneless, lightly salted Finnish ham, popular since about the 1940s before which Finns used to eat several kinds of meats during Christmas, Swedish hams are possibly somewhat smaller and need less time to thaw and in oven. It is also possible to salt a ham yourself, if you buy ham from a farm or butcher or buy a pig in time to fatten it for Christmas: There are several methods available, here one that is called tönkkösuolaus: Use a 10kg ham, put 1,8 kg of large crystal salt into 10 liters of water which is near or slightly below 0c, ham must be completely submerged, let be there for two months, changing the water from time to time, during the last week you can keep ham in water only, if you want it to be slightly less salty)
Thaw ham if you bought a frozen one, in its plastic package, for 3 days in refrigerator for a 7kg ham, 5 days for a 10kg ham. A 10kg ham is considered better tasting as the pig has gotten bigger. Before putting in oven, take out from refrigerator and let warm, if you intend to put the ham in the oven in the evening, take out during early morning. Ham should be about 10c when you put it in the oven.
Use a wet paper towel to clean the ham a bit and then dry it. Place ham on baking tray in oven, with some water on tray or if you have a large roasting bag, "kinkkupussi", no need for water. Note: do not use only the grill as it lets drop all the liquid from the ham, messing up your oven if the roasting bag fails, but you can use the grill and put the ham on it and baking tray beneath it. An aluminum foil can also be used on the baking tray.
Preheat oven to 200c (you can skip this if you are not worried about the possible bacteria on the ham) and let ham roast in warm oven for half an hour, then turn temperature down. Several people swear by sauna-cooked ham, in which case you will put the ham in a sauna instead of an oven (glazing still done in oven), it will take maybe 12-24 hours for a ham in a 100c sauna, several days in a 80c sauna. Use a meat thermometer if you use a sauna to cook a ham and remember to have something beneath the ham collecting all the liquid. Often people also use a wood-burning stove to cook a ham, this method is hardest as you can not use a meat thermometer easily with one, so unless you have good instructions to the very oven you have (or have a spare ham just in case), this would not be recommended for first-time Christmas ham lovers.
Cook at 100-125c, for about 1 hour/kg, so a 7 kg ham will take 7 hours or more, until meat thermometer shows 75-80c. 'Traditional' ham is ready at 80c but most take the ham out of the oven at 77c or so, when the ham has more water left and is considered tastier. The use of a meat thermometer is recommended because it is common that the temperature of the oven varies of what you set it to and thus the ham can be severely under- or overcooked without a thermometer. Thermometer should be placed in the middle of the ham and you should be careful that it does not touch the oven walls. You can test if the thermometer works properly before using it by dipping it in boiling water, it should show about 100c.
After you take the ham out of the oven wait a little while before taking out the thermometer (if any). It is recommended you do not verse the liquid from the bag or baking tray down the drain.
Then glaze ham with mustard and breadcrumbs.
First take away rind from the ham, then put mustard on it so the ham is covered, then breadcrumbs. Put in 250c oven for 10 minutes.
Ham is ready to eat when it has cooled down a bit. About enough for 3-4 people for a week, but if you think you will not eat within a week, put rest in freezer (usually fast to cool outside before putting in refrigerator or freezer) and use later. Often eaten with traditional Christmas cuisine, including baked potatoes, red wine, potato, carrot & rutabaga casseroles etc. and during the night or in the morning and in-between 'proper' meals with bread, mustard and milk.
