Brocktour: Løgumkloster

Tuesday presented us with a gorgeous piece of church – Løgumkloster Kirke; an old monastery church in the south of Jutland (kloster = monastery). It’s one of those churches I can walk into and feel the calm, no matter the denomination – just like Catholic churches of Southern Europe (just a note: Løgumkloster Church was converted to Church of Denmark after the Reformation back in the 1500s – Church of Denmark is Lutheran-Evangelical).

That being said, it seems that a tour can’t go by without a bunch of unmanagable confirmands. I know it’s just my second tour, but both tours have presented just that. The Reverend usually makes clear that we don’t applaud during the service itself, but the days the band plays encores, we can applaud the band during the encores. But the youngsters in Løgumkloster went contra – and applauded LOUDLY after just about every action during the service. Even when I said “Let’s be silent together” after the prayer, they could do nothing but yell… And applaud. *sigh*
I could bitch about spoiled brats and decent behavior, especially in a church, but I won’t. Well, maybe later, but not now. It’s just a waste of energy right now. The service went exceptionally well in spite of the unmanagables.

Afterwards, we drove to the hut we spent the night in, evaluated over a night cab, and I went to bed shortly after – and had surprisingly many hours of sleep, all things considered.

Apparently, I'm the only one going on caffeine. I honestly don't mean to decline alcohol. I blame my body and its cravings.

Tourbus view, Wednesday. Somewhere in Southern Jutland.

Recipe: That Ham!

This is something that I pull out for special occations – like holidays or special dinners where a roast is absolutely necessary. Like the family julefrokost. Although it’s a bit odd, cooked in cola and all, everybody love it and ask for it, and have been doing so since the first time I cooked it.

It used to be my mother cooking the ham back in the days, but she cooked it in some way that made the entire house stink. When I then found a special (or should we continue with calling it odd?) recipe I wanted to try a few years back, I took my chance to suggest that I cooked the ham that year. And I’ve been cooking the ham for the annual family julefrokost ever since.

Now, it’s no big secret that I got the recipe from Nigella Lawson. Then it’s said. But I *did* make some adjustments.

I know Nigella has talked of making soup from the cooking liquid – now I can’t remember which one, but I will post it if I find it.

Now, here’s what happened this year:

Colaham
Although I think I got all the good tips on timing worked into this recipe, I think it’s a good idea to read Nigella’s recipe, too, as I may not get all of the goodies on cooking and roasting into my version of the recipe.

Ingredients
1 678 g gammon (US: ham)
1 1½ liter bottle of Coca-Cola
1 onion, peeled and cut in halves

For the glazing
1 tablespoon organic dijon mustard
1 tablespoon organic maple syrup
1 small handful (or 1 unit) of cloves.

For the leftover Coke
A large glass.
A slice of lemon.
Ice cubes if desired.

To-do

• Put your gammon into a pot, fat side down (if possible). Add the onion and cover ham and onion in Coca-Cola. Cook for 45 min. (add 15 min. if the gammon comes straight from the fridge).
• Put possible ice cubes into the large glass, pour the rest of the Coke over the ice/into the glass, squeeze lemon juice into it, and enjoy while cooking.
• Mix mustard and syrup in a small bowl.
• Preheat oven to 240º C.
• When the gammon has been cooked (and is now officially a ham, I suppose), take it out of the liquid and put it on a chopping board.
• Slice off the fat, leaving a thin layer, score the thin layer with a sharp knife to make fairly large diamond shapes, and stud each diamond with a clove.
• Place the ham in a roasting pan. Cover the “diamonds” with glaze, and pour the rest of the graze over the rest of the ham.
• Put it in the oven – the original recipe says it should be there for 10 minutes, but my nose could tell me different before the 10 minutes had gone, so keep an eye (and nose!) on it. Take it out (before it burns!) and let it rest.

Enjoy!