Another Christmas tradition bites the dust.....

I used to soak the gammon for twenty four hours, rinse the joint and then encase it in pastry case to hold in the moisture. After several hours I used to take it out of the oven and allow it to cool, then send DH to get a hammer and chisel to break through the case. I must say it was always lovely and moist but what a faff.

Roast covered in foil for 30mins per pound weight plus 30 minutes, for last 30 minutes take off foil, coat in French mustard and honey (equal quantities) put back in oven without foil, yummy!

It should also be good cooked in cider - apple and pork go well together.

Teetime it doesn't need the soaking, boiling, throwing away water, re-boiling these days - that's why it has ended up tasteless.

The slow cooker is great for re-heating the Christmas pudding - boil for a few minutes first, then put it in the slow cooker with the hot water for a few hours in a corner of the kitchen - then it doesn't take up a ring on the hob.

And if anyone says 'oh, I just microwave mine' aaargh!

Or even a huge ham, ruddy predictive text,

Years ago daft dog (lurcher) can into house with beautifully cooked Hugh ham, never found out where she got it from (didn't dare show face in village!). DH wanted to rescue it and eat it.....
Another time came back with enormous cooked leg of lamb.....

I do mine about three days before Christmas.

Make a note of the weight!!!

Soak overnight, drain, boil in pressure cooker with onion, peppercorns, carrot (I have to check the timings in the tatty little booklet because I can never remember them)

Strip of the skin leaving as much fat as possible - cool.

Score the fat into diamonds - this is easier if it's cold. Rub mustard all over.

Trickle a small amount of balsamic vinegar on to some demerara sugar just to moisten it. Spread it on top of the mustard making sure the whole surface is covered. Stud the middle of each diamond with a clove

Bake in moderate oven until it looks right. The sugar must not look raw and crunchy but also not have cooked for so long it's either burned or slid off the gammon and is sticking to the tin like molten lava.

Once it has cooled down I put it on a pretty plate and leave it in the fridge so everyone HAS to admire it every time they reach for a beer/wine/sneaky sausage roll.

Even if we go to DD's for Christmas she tells the whole family that 'Mum will be doing the gammon as usual'

It's a tradition

I cook mine very similar to Vampirequeen in the pressure cooker except before putting in oven I remove skin, spread with mustard and honey or sometimes marmalade and wrap in foil. Lovely flavour,

I have always cooked mine a day or two before Christmas eve. DH prefers it boiled. I copy mum with the soak drain, soak again then bring to boil and simmer. I have never used a timer. I use the prod and taste method.
I did cook it in cola last year. Personally I couldn't taste much difference.

So true, isn't it jings! Bit like making a fantastic looking cake and seeing someone ruin it by actually cutting into it!

(Not that I ever make cakes, fantastic looking or otherwise)

that was to vq

I so love the last line!

I seem to remember I just roasted mine in the oven last year covered in foil (I think). Just as instructions on wrapping.

Very good vamp and true! Although I don't put mine in the freezer, as they usually have a really long use-by date.

Thanks tiggy

whitewave depends really, sometimes I will just leave it as it is, especially if it's only Mr P and I having it. I do love the look of them all glazed and studded, but we have often had ours just boiled and it still tasted yum.

Try to remember to take ham out of the freezer.
Panic at 3am when you realise you forgot.
Get out of bed and take ham out of freezer.
Go back to bed muttering.

Get up again at 8am to find ham is still frozen.
Force hard lump into pressure cooker and cover with cold water.
Leave to soak and defrost.
Feel sick when you see the frothy, salty scum form.
Leave for 24 hours.

Change water.
Bring to the boil and empty water out without dropping the ham into the sink.
Complain about the new fangled metric system as you use internet kg to llb converter
Cook for 15 mins a pound plus 15 mins because you've lost the pressure cooker recipe book and have no real idea how long it should be.

When cooked remove from pressure cooker with two forks that are too small making sure you burn and scald yourself at least three times.
Treat burns and scalds quickly because you need to de-skin the ham before it cools
Rub brown sugar into the remaining fat on ham.
Treat burns from hot skin, hot fat and melted sugar.

Stick cloves in fat and bung ham into preheated oven for 20 mins or so until the sugar is golden.
Put ham on plate.
Spend hours soaking and scrubbing cooking tray to remove burnt on sugar.

Feel self satisfied when you see your lovely joint and smell the wonderful scent of ham, sugar and cloves.

Hate the person who wants to carve the joint and spoil your creation.

Forgot to say that when my sister and I shared the Christmas day cooking we had so many 'cooks perks' we couldn't give a damn about any of the results. The only complainer was our Nana who liked the rum sauce a good brown colour (ie a great deal of rum).

Sounds good to me will do that - do you bung on brown sugar, cloves and stuff to roast it?

phoenix - when are you going to publish all your 'comic strips' ? If you look back on all you have put on GN it would make an excellent start ! I am sure I am not alone in appreciating your brand of humour.

Getting back to the thread ........ I also soak, pour away, bring to the boil, pour away and boil again for however long it takes. I think it harks back to the days when we killed our own pig and salted the hams and they could be very salty !

It's a bit complicated Graces , so I'll break it down into stages.

Unwrap gammon
Bung in slow cooker
Add water to cover, plus peppercorns and bayleaf so that you feel you are doing "proper" cooking
Turn on slow cooker (I used the "auto" setting, which I think just switches from low to high during the process)
Prod from time to time
After about 6 hours, prod again and take out!

Do give us details of your slow cooking method phoenix

gillybob I suppose there would be no harm in using the cola method in the slow cooker, might give that a try.

Teetime I have been known to soak mine, change the water then cook, but not change the water a second time, sounds a right faff!

Here is the way it used to be chez Phoenix!

Cursing The Gammon:

Start by getting out all of your biggest pans and finding that none of them is quite the right size/shape for the meat. Apply your first curse. Then you set it to boil on your newly cleaned hob, and wait for the spitting and splashing to begin. You can now curse again, even if you haven't rolled a 6.

You then realise that you forgot to make a note of the weight for timing purposes. Rummage in the bin for the wrapper and miss two goes. Now experiment with different positions for the lid in an attempt to minimise the splashing. Have another curse when you realise that none of the positions works. Say to anyone within earshot that it's the same every year, and why on earth didn't they remind you of that when you bought it. (Deflecting blame earns you an extra 10 points and a small sherry).

Realise that you forgot to set the timer, and try to estimate how long it has been boiling so far. Don't worry too much about accuracy; you are bound to be wrong. Apply an extra 30 minutes to be on the safe side, miss one go and have a sherry. After an appropriate length of time, drain and leave to cool. Award extra points if all of the water goes down the sink, but miss 2 sherries if any goes either on the draining board or your feet.

Cover with something to protect from cats (extra points available if a colander will actually fit over it, but deductions if you have to deploy either a tea towel or tin foil).

Apply final curse and enjoy

Ah yes the soaking, the throwing away ,the reboiling, the peppercorns , I remember it well. I am converted to turning on the computer and ordering from the wonderful Dukeshill company. The hard part is refraining from all their other delicious bits and pieces.

I used to hate gammon or boiled bacon and every single tedious year my mother would say 'Do you like ham?' even though I never had even as a child and I always answered no. I decided in my forties to start liking ham just so that I could say Yes -(this is the stupid state my mother used to put me in). Anyway then I could ring and ask her how she did it and copy dutifully. So it was soak for a day pour off water, bring to the boil in clean water, throw that away and start again with clean water peppercorns, bay leaf and a dash of sherry bring to the boil and simmer until tender. Needless to say it was a tasteless grey mound that we ate a few slices of then threw away. This year Sainsbury's are doing mine but I doubt I shall have more than a slice.

I've always done mine in the morning by putting the gammon in a bowl of boiling water covered with microfilm pierced a couple of times to let steam out and put in the microwave for an hour on medium heat and then take out of microwave and leave in the bowl of water as it's still cooking until cold then drain and wrap in bacofoil ...

Speakimg of gammon I always cook mine in a pan on the top of the stove floating in a bath of (diet) coca-cola with chopped up celery and carrots. I simmer it gently depending on the size and the results are delicious. I got the recipe from Nigella a few years back and it's DH's favourite.

I'm sure you will have time for many glasses of sherry phoenix as the slow cooker will be doing the work for you. It's a win win situation.