Four To Order: Sydney’s Best Christmas Hams

Ham is the Christmas menu item that keeps on giving. Who here among us hasn’t snuck slices in the lead up to the big day? Gasped over a particularly massive clove-studded centrepiece? Revelled in the ham toasties and sandwiches that form the bulk of our post-Christmas diet?

If you’re committing to a ham, you want to make it a good one – so we’ve found four of the best to hit your festive table.

Emilio’s Butcher, Rozelle

This little corner joint is from Milko Marinozzi and Will Heath, a pair of butchers who met while working at Feather & Bone. On its little Rozelle corner, Emilio’s focuses on sourcing local animals from small, chemical-free regenerative farms, and providing the community with house-butchered cuts that minimise waste. And there are snazzy pantry items, too.

For Christmas it’s pastured heritage-breed hams from Stockin Piggle and Taluca Park, in NSW. They’ll be boneless for easy carving, and slow-brined and wood smoked at Kingsgrove’s Pino’s Dolce Vita. There are also free-range turkeys (available whole or stuffed and rolled) and tight-wrapped porchetta.

Emilio’s hams are available via the order form in store or by calling the store on 02 8377 9786.

Whole Beast Butchery, Marrickville

Marrickville’s Whole Beast Butchery does what it says on the tin – owner Marcus Papadopoulo orders in whole animals, then breaks them down for you. Free-range pigs from Cowra are on the menu this year, prepared to Papadopoulo’s own recipe, then slow-cured with the bone in and gently smoked over Australian ironbark to deliver a robust flavour.

Hams are made every day up until Christmas, so are available for walk-in orders too.

Whole Beast Butchery’s bone-in hams are sold as a whole, half or quarter leg for $28.95 per kilogram. Order by visiting or calling the store on 0420 710 505, or emailing info@wholebeastbutchery.com.au.

Australian Meat Emporium, Alexandria

Step inside Australian Meat Emporium and you’ll find yourself in what’s essentially a factory-sized coolroom. For Christmas, the team’s buddied up with Bangalow Sweet Pork to source its hams – which are butchered in-house – from small family-run farms that don’t use antibiotics or add hormones. It’s also selling small-batch free-range Sunshine Meats “mini rolled hams”, which are lightly smoked.

A whole leg of Australian Meat Emporium ham costs up to $175.89 (9.5 to 11 kilograms); a half leg costs up to $103.94 (five to 6.5 kilograms). The mini rolled hams are $35.99 per kilo. Online orders have now closed, head in store to purchase until Christmas Eve.

Black Forest Smokehouse, Marrickville

If anyone knows pork it’s Black Forest Smokehouse, which uses recipes passed down through four generations to make its bacon, ham and cold-cuts. One of these recipes is in play with its plump Christmas hams, which are finished over ironbark for a delicately smoky flavour. There’s a free-range version available, too.

A whole leg of bone-in ham costs $135 for 7.5 to 8.5 kilograms, or $160 for nine to 10 kilograms. A bone-in half leg costs $85 (four to 4.5 kilograms). A whole free-range bone-in leg costs $200 for nine to 9.5 kilograms; a free-range half leg costs $100 for five kilograms. Last minute pick-up only online orders are available for some products, and they’re stocked in Harris Farms.