Ingredients
A ham cooked on the bone
2 or 3 fresh oranges
1 cup honey
20 or 30 cloves
Orange liqueur (Grand Marnier, Cointreau, or Curacao)
You can substitute inch-long pieces of cinnamon back for some of the cloves for variety
Method
Place the ham, skin side up, on a rack in a baking pan. Remove the rind. This can easily be done by making an incision with a sharp knife around the rind at the pointy end, leaving just enough rind to use later as a handle. Using the knife, cut just under the rind at the blunt end of the ham. Then, by putting your fingers under the rind, ease it away right back to the pointy end. The fat can now be pared away with the knife, taking care not to cut into the meat itself.
Once that is done, cut orange slices about 3mm thick from the middle of the fruit, reserving the ends for juice. Smear 1 tbsp of honey over the meat. I like to use an Australian wildflower of Tasmanian leatherwood honey. One by one, place the orange slices over the honeyed ham and fix them in position by gently forcing the cloves through them and into the ham, about five to each slice. As well as providing flavour and a delightful appearance, the cloves will stop the slices from slithering down the ham once the honey starts to melt in the oven.
Once covered, the surface can be brushed with the remaining honey mixed with the orange jouce squeezed from the reserved orange ends. Take care not to brush too hard in case you dislodge the orange slices.
Splash over a little orange liqueur. The alcohol will, of course, be cooked off.
Sprinkle with raw or brown sugar and place in a moderate oven (about 180℃) for one hour.
Baste ham every 15 minutes with the honey and orange mixture which has dropped into the bottom of the pan.
When you have removed the ham from the oven, do a final basting and allow it to cool before carving.
The best way to carve is to hold the pointy end, cut out a wedge, then carve slices downward, finally removing the by cutting across the top of the bone.