Honning-Sennep til Juleskinke

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small dry frying pan
• •Mixing bowl
• •Whisk
• •Clean jar with lid for storage

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the mustard seeds

   Set a small dry pan over medium heat. Add the yellow and black mustard seeds and toast them, shaking the pan often, for two to three minutes. You'll hear them begin to pop and crack, and the kitchen will fill with a sharp, warm smell that is nothing like the jar. Toasting wakes the seeds up. Raw mustard seeds taste of almost nothing. Toasted, they carry a heat and a nuttiness that cuts through the sweetness of the honey and gives the sauce its backbone.

   Pull the pan off the heat the moment the popping slows and the seeds have darkened a shade. They go from toasted to bitter in seconds, and there's no coming back from that.
2. 2

   Whisk the sauce together

   Tip the toasted seeds into a bowl and let them cool for a minute. Add the honey, coarse mustard, and apple cider vinegar. Whisk everything together until it's smooth and combined, with the whole seeds suspended throughout. The vinegar does quiet but important work here: it lifts the sauce and stops it from being one-note sweet. Without it, honey and mustard sit flat. With it, they sharpen and sing.

   If your honey has crystallized, warm the jar gently in a bowl of hot water until it flows freely. Cold, thick honey won't incorporate with the mustard and the sauce will be lumpy.
3. 3

   Season and finish

   Crack a generous amount of black pepper over the surface and add a small pinch of salt. Stir once more. Now taste it. The balance you're looking for is this: sweetness first, then the slow burn of mustard, then the pop and crunch of the seeds, then pepper at the back of your tongue. If it's too sweet, add a little more mustard. If the mustard overwhelms, a small spoonful more honey brings it back. You'll know when it's right.

   The sauce will mellow as it sits. If you're making it a day ahead, season it slightly more assertively than you think you should. Time softens the edges.
4. 4

   Serve or store

   Transfer the honning-sennep to a clean jar or a small serving bowl. If you're using it as a glaze, brush it over the scored fat of the ham in the last thirty minutes of roasting, two or three times, letting each layer set before the next. If you're serving it at the table alongside the sliced juleskinke, spoon it into a small ceramic dish and let people help themselves. Both are correct. Both are tradition.

Chef Tips

• •Danish rapeseed honey has a mild, buttery sweetness that works perfectly here. If you can't find it, use any good light honey. Avoid anything too dark or strongly flavored, like chestnut or buckwheat, which will fight the mustard instead of working with it.
• •Grov sennep, coarse-grain Danish mustard, is what gives this sauce its character. French whole-grain mustard is a reasonable substitute, but the flavor profile is different. If you have a Scandinavian shop nearby, it's worth seeking out the real thing.
• •The sauce is equally good on cold roast pork, on leverpostej, or spooned alongside a slice of rullepolse. It earns its place in the fridge well beyond Christmas day.
• •Use this both as a glaze and a table sauce. Brush it on the ham during roasting for a lacquered, golden crust, then serve a fresh bowl alongside for people to add as they eat. They serve different purposes and both belong.

Advance Preparation

• •Honning-sennep keeps in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to two weeks. The flavor improves after a day as the mustard and honey settle into each other.
• •If using as a glaze, make it at least a few hours ahead so the flavors have time to meld. Bring to room temperature before brushing onto the ham.
• •This makes an excellent gift in a small jar with a handwritten label. It travels well and lasts. If you're bringing something to someone else's julefrokost, this is what to bring.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 28g)