So how do you create one of those mouth-watering hams that you see in food magazines? 

The Chronicle spoke to chef, and Slow Food Hunter Valley leader, Amorelle Dempster to help you deliver the feast of your life. 

So what’s her secret? It involves cloves, raspberries, the finest wine you can afford – and choosing a ham that will fit in the oven. 

Our encounter starts with a nine kilogram ham in the kitchen at Reader’s Cafe and Larder. Ms Dempster takes a really sharp knife and runs it around the base of the ham to separate the skin from the fat. Then she peels back the skin, removes it, and uses the tip of the knife to score the fat.

“I do it just over two centimetres apart, go across on one side and then do the other – it’s nice to have it even, it adds a bit of finesse to the finished product,” she said.

“Now you need to add the cloves at each open intersection; it’s a junction where the flavour will permeate the meat and you will get that lovely spiced Christmas clove flavour.

“Cover the area in a nice even pattern so each of those bits of fat will go a lovely golden brown and give it a lovely shape.”

She puts the skin underneath the ham to help protect it during cooking and then makes the raspberry glaze.

Here’s the recipe – add one cup of the best wine you can afford (she used Macquariedale organic wine Thomas Shiraz), a cup of honey, 100mls of apple cider vinegar, a cup of raspberries, a cup of brown sugar, a few cinnamon sticks, two dried chillies, a bunch of sage and 10 bay leaves to a saucepan.

Pop it on the stove for 10 minutes until it starts to bubble and become a syrup. 

“Remember not to leave it because it tends to bubble up, so watch it and keep it safe and give it a quick stir,” Ms Dempster said.

Now it’s time to paint the ham, or put the glaze in the fridge and do it just before you put it in the oven. 

“It’s a lovely glossy glaze and the raspberry seed through it is a nice effect,” she said. 

“Start painting it at the bottom and then work your way over the ham.”

Cover the ham very gently, and loosely, with foil and pop it into the oven at 150 degrees. 

Set the timer for 20 minutes and then add another layer of the glaze. Do that again at 40 minutes and 60 minutes. After an hour in the oven take off the foil and leave it to cook for another half an hour.

“Keep basting it as often as you like after the 60 minute mark if you want a really dark coloured glaze,” Ms Dempster said.