Cooking Christmas dinner is no easy feat, even for the most experienced cooks in the house. To take the load off slightly, we’ve put together this easy guide to help with everything from start to finish.
What is the best Christmas ham?
Best option balancing price and quality: Free range bone in leg ham, if you want a traditional leg ham to glaze.
Best option if you are cooking for a large group: Champagne semi boneless leg ham – you get the style of bone in ham, however as it is semi-boneless it makes it much easier to slice as you don’t need to carve around the bone.
Best option if you want convenience: Boneless gourmet leg ham, these are fully boneless which makes it the fastest to glaze and reheat, and the easiest to carve.
Best option if you want an Irish/UK style ham: Raw gammon ham, which you boil first then glaze and finish in the oven.
Free Range Bone in Leg Ham
These are our most popular Christmas hams, lightly smoked using jarrah wood chips and cooked on-site in small batches. Made using the finest free range pork legs sourced from the south-west of WA.
Traditional style leg ham with the bone in, available as a full leg between 7kg to 11kg, or as half leg between 3kg to 6kg.
CHAMPION GOLD – ‘Bone in Leg Ham’, AMIC Smallgoods Awards 24/25
GOLD – IFFA Global Food Awards 2025
Champagne Semi Boneless Leg Ham
A semi boneless leg ham that has a small portion of the shank bone left at the top, making it easy to handle when carving.
Made with free range pork legs from the south-west of WA. Slow cooked and lightly smoked with jarrah wood chips for maximum flavour. Available as a full leg between 6kg to 9kg, or as half size cut lengthways between 3kg to 5kg.
GOLD – ‘Semi Boneless Ham’, Perth Royal Food Awards 2025
SILVER – ‘Semi Boneless Ham’, AMIC Smallgoods Awards 24/25
Boneless gourmet hams
Easy to prepare free range boneless Christmas leg ham. Slow cooked and lightly smoked with jarrah wood chips. Simply peel the skin, glaze and reheat and you’ll be the star of your Christmas meal.
Available as a full leg approx 5kg, or as half leg approx 2.5kg.
Raw gammon ham
Also referred to as ‘gammon’ or a ‘gammon joint’, these are our traditional Irish/UK style gammon hams that you boil and bake yourself.
Our Irish raw gammon hams are produced in small batches, following our family recipe. Made using the finest West Australian free range pork, they are deboned then cured for 24 hours in our traditional brine and strung to maintain their shape.
Available between 2kg and 6kg pieces, fully boneless.
SILVER – ‘Specialty Smallgoods’, AMIC Smallgoods Awards 24/25
What size Christmas ham do I need?
When choosing a ham, if you are choosing a boneless ham we suggest 250g per person. If you are choosing a bone in ham then we suggest 500g per person.
However, this doesn’t take into account how hungry your guests are, whether or not your ham is the feature of the meal and how much leftovers you would like for the coming days. We have estimated some ham size guides for you below, taking into account If you enjoy leftovers for the next few days.
Ham size estimates per person (main protein):
● 2.5kg boneless ham for 4-6 adults, some leftover
● 5kg boneless ham for 10-12 adults, some leftovers
● 4kg bone in ham for 6-8 adults, some leftovers
● 7kg bone in ham for 14-16 adults, some leftovers
● 10kg bone in ham for 20-24 adults, some leftovers
How do I cook my Christmas ham?
If you are buying a smoked bone in leg ham, champagne semi boneless ham or gourmet boneless ham, these have already been cooked. This means you can slice and serve cold, or apply a glaze and reheat in the oven and serve warm. You can follow our roast ham glaze recipe or prepare your own glaze and following the reheating instructions.
If you are purchasing a raw gammon ham, you need to boil these first and then finish them off in the oven. Our go-to recipe for a boil and bake gammon ham is Nigella Lawson’s coca-cola ham recipe.
How to store Christmas ham
To keep your ham fresh and juicy over the coming days you need to store it properly. When storing it in the fridge, use a purpose made ham bag (please ask for one in the shop!). Soak the bag in a vinegar solution and place the ham in the bag.
If you don’t have a ham bag, soak some tea towels in vinegar and follow the same instructions as above. Every couple of days wash the tea towel or ham bag then soak in water with a splash of vinegar, dry the bag and then place the ham back in.
We suggest to only slice as much ham as you need during your meal, and leave the rest of the ham as a whole piece. That way the ham will stay juicy for longer.
Try to keep the ham away from the bottom/back of the fridge where it is the coldest as it will dry out here. If you are stuck for fridge space, you can cut the ham into chunks and wrap in cling film then store in the freezer and use at a later date.
How long does Christmas ham last?
When stored correctly, Christmas ham will last up to 14 days in the fridge.
If you want to freeze your ham, we suggest to cut into chunks and then take them out as you need. Ham can safely be stored for up to 3 months in the freezer.
How to use leftover Christmas ham
We’ve put together a short list of some of the great meals to make using your leftover Christmas ham:
● Classic ham sandwiches with stuffing, Dijon mustard and your favourite fillings
● Stacked cheese toasties
● Omelettes with diced ham
● Breakfast croissants
● Ham and leek pie
● Quiche with spinach and ham
● Penne ham pasta
● Ham and cheese jambons
● Pea and ham soup
