So, Brazilians are very big on meat. More specifically; beef. Every other street corner in the city has a butcher or bbq store. Behind the counter and in the fridge rooms beautifull red cuts of meat by the tons are hanging on hooks. The pork section is usually quite small and off to the side. When we first moved here two years ago I managed to walk into the only pork butcher in town and ask for filé mignon. They looked at me like the idiot I was, only I thought it was because of my poor portuguese skills. I walked out of the shop thinking what kind of butcher doesn’t have filé mignon….then I saw the sign outside with a big picture of a pig on the logo. I’ve never been back. 
Anyway, every year around christmastime, the grocery stores empty some dairy shelves and fill them with cooked and smoked hams. The price is similar to home about R$50 which is about 125SEK. Brazilians do eat ham at christmas and traditionally just stick it with cloves. I wanted to make my classic christmas ham breaded and broiled.
This is our third christmas since moving here. Spending christmas in Brazil is weird and anticlimactic what without the cold, rain, dark and depressing climate we are so accustomed to in Sweden that is synonymous with christmas. Because without those things we can’t light a thousand candles, enjoy hot cocoa or glögg, spend hours in the kitchen baking christmas goodies or cozying in front of the fire. We do our best; our christmas star is hung in the window but we never see it because the sun outshines it and at night even the moon outshines it. We light candles but we end up blowing them out because it is so hot or the AC blows them out for us. I have actually made really good glögg with grape juice (brazilians are big on Suco de Uva) and I must say I like it even better than normal glögg. But before I drink it I have to prep the room with AC full blast. We bake gingerbread cookies and lussekatter wearing bikinis and aprons with sweat running down our backs because baking in 35 degrees is torture. I have never been big on ham but our brazilian christmas version has become a very important part of the season.
So our first year here I bought a ham not knowing what I was going to find when I unwrapped the golden package. What I found was a small very smoked ham. I cut away the outer brown, smoked layer to reveal a nice, tasty ham, just like home. From there it was just a matter of breading and broiling! Pronto! It is delicious and tastes like christmas at home especially with Swedish knäckebröd.
Dölling Family Christmas Ham; Breaded and Broiled
- 1 ham
- Maizena or flour
- 1 dl breadcrumbs or panko
- 2 tbsp grated ginger
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 3 tbsp swedish mustard (or any other mustard you can find that isn’t too close to dijon)
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 egg yolk
- Put oven on 225 celsius.
- Mix everything but the maizena/flour.
- Dry the ham with paper towel and place in an oven dish or on a pan.
- Dust and pat with maizena/flour.
- Spread breading all over the ham.
- Broil in oven for 10-15 min. Let cool quickly. (This part is difficult in Brazil but put it in the fridge as soon as possible.)
