This is a real showstopper of a centrepiece. Place your beautifully glazed ham in the middle of the table. Place your glazed pineapple rings all around the ham and then place your crisp onion rings on top of your pineapple. Season your chunky chips well with sea salt and serve in a bowl in the middle of the table.
Serves 6
For the ham
For the battered onion rings
For the triple cooked chips
For the duck eggs
Preheat oven to 150° C Fan
Take the ham and lightly score with the tip of a small knife all over. Next add the cinnamon, star anise and coriander seeds to a spice grinder or pestle and mortar, and grind to a course seasoning. Rub the spice mixture all over the ham. Place the ham in a roasting tray.
Next, in a small saucepan bring the port, honey and rice wine vinegar to a boil. Make sure the three liquids are well combined. Simmer for 1-2 minutes until you have a slightly thick consistency. Allow the liquid to cool for 10 minutes and then pour half the mixture over the ham, making sure to cover all the ham. Place the ham in your preheated oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes take the ham out of the oven and baste with the residual honey port glaze back over the ham and return to the oven for another 20 minutes. Take the ham back out of the oven and pour over the remaining glaze. Then, around the outside of the ham place your pineapple rings and baste with the honey port glaze over the pineapple rings and ham and cook for a further 20 minutes. Take the ham and pineapple out of the oven and continue to baste with the thick honey and port glaze over your pineapple and ham and leave to rest.
To make the onion ring batter. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan to 180°C. Mix the flour, roasted onion seeds and a pinch of salt in a bowl, then gradually add the soda water until the batter is the consistency of double cream. Slice the onions into 2 cm-thick rings and then separate the rings. Dust the onion rings with flour, then dip into the batter, making sure the onion is totally covered. Very carefully place the onion rings, one by one, into the hot olive oil. Cook the onion rings until golden brown and crisp, then drain on kitchen paper and season with Cornish sea salt.
Prepare the chips to the point where they are ready for their final fry, and fry just before serving the ham. Peel the potatoes and cut into chunky chips. Rinse under cold water to remove the starch, then pat dry. Gently lower the chips into the hot oil and cook for 8-10 minutes until soft but with no colour. The chips shouldn’t look like they are frying in the oil. Gently lift the chips out of the oil and place onto a tray, then leave to cool to room temperature. This step can be done well in advance and the chips placed into the fridge if needed.
Turn up the fryer or oil pan to 190°C, using a food thermometer to check the temperature. Now place the chips into the hot oil and cook until golden brown and crisp. If using a good potato, they should fry for a least 3-4 minutes and sometimes longer. Transfer to a tray lined with a cloth to soak up the excess oil, then season with fine salt and place in the oven to keep warm.,
Next take a large frying pan over a medium heat and add your duck fat. Once the duck fat is hot, carefully add your sage leaves and cook them until they start to go crisp. Now turn the heat down and crack your duck eggs into your sage-flavoured duck fat. Once the eggs are almost cooked, season them with sea salt and a couple of twists of cracked black pepper. Serve the fried duck eggs and sage onto a platter in the middle of the table.
