The term “gammon” came from “ham,” which has been used since the mid-fifteenth century. Gammon is the hind leg of pork, similar to fresh pork meat but not quite the same as dry-cured ham such as prosciutto. Gammon is processed meat, which means it has been preserved through salting, smoking, curing, or the addition of chemical preservatives.

For those unfamiliar with the term, gammon is the most popular topic in the United Kingdom and Ireland, while other English vernaculars see little difference between gammon and ham. It can be found in many grocery stores as a whole joint or cut into steaks, which can then be cooked in a pan similar to bacon.

For those looking to spice up their Christmas dinner, here’s a simple recipe and instructions on how to cook gammon. Joints of cooked gammon are commonly served during the Christmas season in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

How to Cook Gammon?

There is a lot of confusion about the distinction between the terms – ham and gammon. These two types of meat are prepared meats that originate from the pig’s back legs and are preserved.

However, gammon is sold raw, so it should be cooked before consumption, whereas ham can be consumed immediately. Well, the recipe for both gammon and ham is very similar.

Because of the various storage techniques and salt levels, gammon may need to be splashed or boiled before cooking, so consult your butcher (or look at the package) before proceeding.

You may determine how salty it is by slicing off a tiny chunk of gammon and cooking it in a small amount of oil until done.

The amount of gammon used determines how it will be cooked – it is typically a leg joint that can have the bone left in or be deboned, a gammon steak, or gammon rashers.

To begin with, all gammon cooking instructions are used soaking the gammon in water to remove the saltiness, but that is no longer the case. However, before you start learning to cook gammon, check with your butcher or read the directions on the back of the package.

How to Cook Gammon Joint?

If your boneless gammon joint requires soaking (to make a less salty ham), place it in the refrigerator the day before in a large stockpot or safeguarding pan. Replace the cover with water 2-3 times.

A gammon joint is the best slice to use when learning how to cook gammon. However, a less expensive, fattier bacon joint will also suffice.

Method for Cooking Gammon Joint

1. To begin, calculate the cooking time by measuring the size of your gammon joint. Aside from the extra 20 minutes, you’ll need to cook the boneless gammon joint for 20 minutes for every 450g.
2. In a large pan, cover the gammon with water and boil it. You can flavour it with anything like cinnamon, bay leaves, peppercorns, coriander seeds, or onion.
3. Cook the gammon joint for half the time indicated. A gentle simmer is sometimes required, and any white foam that rises to the surface when boiling gammon should be discarded.
   Drain the access stock from the gammon joints, or keep it and leave it for a while to cool it down.
4. Just the thinnest layer of fat surrounding the meat will remain after the upper layer of skin has been removed.
   Place the gammon in a foil-lined roasting tin, cover loosely with foil, and bake at 180 degrees Celsius or 160 degrees Celsius for the remaining cooking time.
5. Brush your gammon joint with a simple glaze of your choice, such as maple syrup and mustard or a combination of honey and mustard glaze, twenty to thirty minutes before the cooking time is up.
6. Cook, uncovered, until the glaze on the roast gammon joint turns golden. This is how you prepare gammon joints.

Glazed Gammon Joint

Add a sticky honey and mustard glaze to the cooked gammon for a scrumptious pleasantness that contrasts with the meat’s saltiness. As a result, it’s ideal for a festival dinner. In a bowl, combine the glaze ingredients, such as honey and mustard, with brown sugar, and generously brush half over the gammon.

After 15 minutes, brush the gammon with the remaining glaze and put it in the oven for about 30 minutes or till it is sticky and brown. Allow cooling for 15 minutes before making thick cuts.

Sticky Maple-glazed Ham with Prepared Apple Sauce

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 or 140°C. Drain the ham thoroughly and place it in a big roasting tin when the ham is soaked. Fill with 400ml of cold water after adding the apple juice.
2. For five hours in the oven, securely wrap the ham in 2 vast sheets of foil, puckering the foil around the tin’s edges to prevent steam leakage. Then, combine all of the glazed gammon ingredients in a saucepan and reduce it to a sticky glaze. Using a knife, cut the apples into two pieces.
3. After taking the ham out of the oven, turn the heat to 200 or 180 degrees Celsius. Move the ham with caution to a load-up. The most straightforward method is to allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the aromatics, such as cloves and bay leaves, and discard the cooking liquid.
4. Remove and strip the skin with a sharp knife, leaving a thin layer of fat connected to the meat. Put the ham in the centre of a roasting pan lined with foil, fat side up. Make a delicate diamond pattern on the fat with a sharp knife. Place the ham back in the oven for 30 minutes until the fat turns fresh and caramelized.
5. If the glaze has thickened, add a drop of water to thin it out before brushing it all around the ham. Add the apples to the tin and bake the ham for 20 to 30 minutes; baste the ham every so often until it is sticky and brownish.
6. Before serving, mash the whole apple (remove the stalks, peel, and seeds), adding some syrupy sauce from the roasting tin. You can season the ham with star anise, drizzle it with edible gold, and arrange bay leaves and orange stripes around the meat. Slices of ham can be served cold in a sandwich or heated with apple sauce.

How to Cook Gammon: Slow-Baked and Sticky

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160° Celsius or 140° Celsius. Place the gammon in a big saucepan with a lid. Put aside 150 ml of pineapple juice, then cover the gammon with the remaining liquid and partly fill the tin with cold water.
2. Please place it in the oven for four hours with a couple of sheets of foil securely covering it. Then, check the hydration levels and transform the gammon.
3. Remove the gammon and drain the fluid.
4. To make a purée, combine the reserved pineapple juice, spices, ginger, ketchup, brown sugar, sweet bean stew, and honey.
5. Preheat the oven to 200 or 180°C before serving. Roast for 30 minutes, or until hot and sticky, before breaking into large pieces and serving on a large platter.

How to Cook Gammon in Cola?

Cooking gammon in cola adds a sweet, treacly taste to balance out the saltiness of the ham.

Method

1. Turn the slow cooker to medium. Insert the gammon joint and cover it with cola. 1 carrot, one quartered onion, one celery stick, one cinnamon stick, 12 teaspoons peppercorns, and bay leaves
2. Cook for 5½ hours on low heat until the gammon is gentle but still holds its shape, adding boiling water as needed. If required, cover the gammon entirely in your slow cooker.
3. Pour the fluid away carefully, then let the ham cool for a few minutes before preheating the oven to 190 degrees Celsius or 170 degrees Celsius. Place the ham in a tin, remove the skin, and make a layered look with the fat all over.
4. Assemble the maple syrup, mustard, vinegar, ground cloves, or five-flavor in a mixing bowl. Drip half of the sauce over the fat, roast for 15 minutes, then ooze over the residual sauce and return to the oven for another 30 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes before brushing with more syrup glaze and serving your slow cooker gammon.

How to Cook Gammon with Membrillo Glaze?

Method

1. Place your splashed or prepared joint in a large stockpot and surround it with bay leaves, vegetables, or peppercorns. Bring to a simmer with fresh water to cover the gammon. Cook for 2 1⁄2 hours, turning once, bringing to a boil, and skimming off any white foam on the surface.
2. Remove the joint from the boiling liquid and store it in a tin (you can use the boiled stock fluid for soups). Wipe it clean with kitchen paper and set aside until the cooked meat is cool enough to handle. Detach the skin back with care around the gammon’s ties to maintain an equal layer of fat. Make patterns all over the place and adorn them with cloves.
3. Cook two or three minutes in a small saucepan with the glaze ingredients to thicken and disintegrate the membrane. Brush a large portion of the mixture over the gammon and set aside for fifteen minutes.
4. Brush on a second layer and roast for 15 minutes or until golden and sticky.

How do you cook gammon in an instant pot?

This simple starter is an excellent way to use leftover ham and can be frozen ahead of time. Pressure cooking is less time-consuming and more accessible. When in doubt, cook your gammon on high pressure for 15 minutes per 450g (one pound) and consider regular delivery.

Method 

1. In a small pan, gently melt the margarine and let it settle. Pour the yellow fat from the dissolved margarine into a small bowl or container, leaving the smooth fluid in the pan. Detach the smooth piece, pull apart the separated pieces, and shred the ham into tacky strips as finely as possible, using a knife if appropriate.
2. Mix in the ham, parsley, flavours, vinegar, 66% of the margarine, and a pinch of crunchy ocean salt, then divide the mixture among ramekins. The leftover margarine should then be spooned or poured on after you push down and level the surface with your hands. Chill until the margarine is firm, then wrap in stick film.
3. Keep the instant pot in the refrigerator until ready to use. Offer with bread, cornichons, and salsa. You may also turn the potted ham onto plates after briefly dipping the pot in a bowl of boiling water.

How to Cook Ham Soup?

Pea and ham soup with leftover ham is a simple soup to make with leftover ham.

Method

1. In a large pot, melt a knob of margarine while tenderly cooking 1 slashed onion until mellowed.
2. 1 strip and diced medium potato dipped in margarine, then poured over ham or pork stock. Simmer until smooth.
3. Return to a boil after adding 500g frozen petit pois or peas. Cook for about two to three minutes.
4. Allow cooling for a few minutes before mixing until smooth. Serve with 300g diced ham.

How to Cook Gammon Omelets?

Method

1. Combine the ham, egg uncooked eggs, mustard, spices, and seasonings with most of the cheddar. The egg whites should be stiff. Gently stir the whites into the egg mix with a spoon until evenly combined.
2. Add a little olive oil to a small fry pan, then grill for four minutes, until the bottom half is set and browned, in the pan with the mixture. Grill for two minutes, or until cheese erupts and golden brown, on top of the residual cheddar.

Best Suits with Gammon

You can understand what goes well with gammon once you’ve learned how to cook it. Graham Campbell’s roast gammon recipe, which uses a blend of five-zest, soy, cinnamon, and cardamom to make a potent glaze for the meat, mentions that gammon stands up well to warming flavours.

Blogger Victoria Glass also suggests some intriguing ingredients, including enhancing the gammon before frying it with a jerk marinade (Scotch hoods peppers, spice, whiskey, garlic, and muscovado sugar).

Apple is a well-known ham accomplice. And, for a boozy twist, James Mackenzie braises gammon in Scrumpy juice before coating it in a sticky honey glaze, mustard glaze, and roasting.

Sweet, zesty, tart or harsh flavours can all work with various flavours, so give it a shot. Josh Eggleton studs gammon with cloves and parsley sauce, James Mackenzie serves it with gooseberry ketchup, and Emily Watkins serves it with fresh pea and mint.

It pairs well with bacon, gravy, mashed potatoes, broccoli, green salad, garlic rice, stuffed pickles, and other side dishes. You can also make essential dishes like steak, egg, and chips, honey roast gammon and gravy, apple and mustard glazed ham, and others with gammon.

Last Updated on July 11, 2024 by Sathi Chakraborty