Matt Preston

I do like a ham glazed in a Jamaican inspired combo of fresh pineapple juice, red chillies and brown sugar with a little allspice, but this year I’ll be making a glaze from local ginger marmalade, fresh ginger juice, maple syrup and a little English mustard powder. I might add some cinnamon quills, star anise or a little dark rum, but I haven’t decided on that yet. Or I might just drink the rum while I’m doing the glazing.

Shane Delia

I don’t get the big fuss about a glazed leg of ham for Christmas. I mean, I know it looks impressive, etched fat studded with cloves and glazed with a sugary dopamine cocktail. But growing up I never experienced this piggy AussieChristmas favourite. Instead we had my  dad’s famous roast leg of salt-encrusted pork. It was so crisp you could break a tooth on the crackling. But this pork would be nothing without Dad’s secret recipe for his ‘satay’ – a magical mixture of onions, garlic, peanut butter and all the fatty goodness from the roasting tray, finished with a handful of spices and chilli Dad keeps close to his chest.

Some years it would be so good you’d fight with the whole family to get your bit of crunchy bread into the pot to scoop up every last drop. But sometimes Dad burnt the hell out of it and tried to disguise it by ‘decanting’ it into a bowl. Those years Dad’s smoky burnt satay didn’t cause any family warfare.

Rodney Dunn

I love, love glazed ham. I don’t feel like it’s Christmas without one on the table. I keep it pretty simple – a jar  of Dijon, brown sugar and a mix of orange and lemon juice for acidity, or sometimes I’ll empty a jar of marmalade into it instead. I score the ham and stud it with cloves. The trick  is to have a centimetre or two of fat and regular basting throughout to build up a caramelised layer of glaze.

Alistair Wise 

To glaze or not to glaze? My wife Teena and I fall into the glaze category: guava purée, orange zest and juice, brown sugar, rum, vinegar, mustard powder and fennel seed. It’s as simple as lathering up the juicy leg before roasting and then continuing to baste it until it’s dark and sticky. It’s a remnant of when I worked with Cuban chefs, but why guava purée? In Hobart your reliance on the weather to give you a perfect day may well be misplaced – it’s as likely to snow as be a scorcher – and the purée makes me think we’re living the island life despite the meteorological Russian roulette.

Ben Russell

For my money glazing meat is pretty much always a good idea. Regardless whether it’s teriyaki on fish collars or mustard and maple on ham, the principles are the same – adding a sweetened, intensely flavoured coating to rich fatty meat. What’s not to love? At Christmas, I’m a traditionalist when it comes to ham – mustard powder, maple syrup, brown sugar and allspice, and cloves in the ham, of course.

O Tama Carey

We’ve only recently started having a Christmas ham. For years it wasn’t my thing, but I’ve been converted. That job, though, is for my partner, Mat Lindsay. He does a delicious version in his wood-fired oven that involves roast pineapple, brown sugar, star anise, whisky and garam masala. And to go with the ham, our new tradition is boiled prawns and crabs served chilled in big bowls on the table with an array of condiments. Some we make, some are whatever is left from the restaurants. Bagna cauda, though, is non-negotiable.

Dan Pepperell

I don’t really do the glazed ham thing at home. If I’m eating anything glazed this Christmas it would be a whole Peking duck and barbecued pork at the local Chinese restaurant.

Tom Walton

When it comes to Christmas, I tend to make vegetables worthy of centre stage. Rather than ham, I glaze a cauliflower with a fragrant jerk marinade. The flavourings – ginger, orange, cinnamon, clove – have a very Christmas vibe. The secret ingredient is cacao – it adds a delicious dark richness. I poach the cauliflower, oil it and roast it at high heat, then brush it with glaze and roast it again briefly. This gives a creamy centre and caramelised crust. All the work can be done ahead and the cauliflower served at room temperature. I garnish it with herbs, pistachios, pomegranate and a yoghurt dressing spiked with lime, garlic and coconut.

Phoebe Wood

The key to an outstanding Christmas ham is getting those deeply caramelised bits of fat. For that, you of course need sugar. Over the years I’ve resorted to a few witch’s brews, but my go-to combo is orange marmalade with a bit of star anise and clove, maybe a splash of gin if I’m feeling fancy. I skip all the faff of studding the ham with cloves and pour the glaze into the base of the roasting pan, and cook the ham fat-side down, unscored, only turning it over in the last half-hour or so to caramelise it. You’ve got a ham richly infused with the flavour of the glaze, and, of course, those bits of caramel fat.

You can find even more delicious ham glaze recipes for Christmas Day here.

Related story: Matt Preston’s top tips for the perfect Christmas spread