Diana Henry's mouth-watering gammon and ham recipes
'Its easy to make several meals out of a ham'
Credit
: Haarala Hamilton
At one stage, I had read Green Eggs and Ham so often I could recite it without the book. I wasnt brought up on Dr Seuss, but my children loved him and the way the rhythm in his stories gradually gathers pace. The moral of Green Eggs and Ham if youre looking for one is that you shouldnt knock things you havent tried.
There were plenty of eggs cooked in my house at the time (though not green ones) and ham was something we all stole from the fridge when we thought nobody was looking. Even as a child, it wasnt chocolate cake I snaffled in secret, but cooked ham. Sometimes I hid torn bits in my shoes. I wanted to be sure there was a luscious umami snack on hand.
A ham and cheese toastie is one of the dishes I eat most regularly, though its usually been heated in a chain coffee shop, the ham substandard, the whole thing flattened and toasted until the cheese scalds your mouth.
Why do I buy these? Familiarity. Ham and cheese sandwiches were a staple of my school lunchbox and picnics. Then there was the brief but intense period when we used a toasted-sandwich maker in the late 1970s. We were always burning the toasties because we overstuffed them, but I loved them.
Ham is an old-fashioned kind of thing to cook these days. If youre under 35, you might not have cooked it at all. We used to have ham hock at home, the soft meat pulled from the bone and served with cabbage and parsley sauce. It was
a sensible meal, as well as a delicious one, because we used the stock for lentil soup afterwards.
Lunchbox classic: Ham is a nostalgic choice for many of us
Credit
: Haarala Hamilton
A glazed ham baked in the oven with marmalade and cloves (after being cooked with water and vegetables in our biggest saucepan) was for Christmas. Glazed ham has always been an event meal.
Recently, keeping on top of the cost of living (especially the cost of food), I had a look at the price of ham, wondering if I could get my sons to like it.
Lets get the practical stuff out of the way. Whats the difference between gammon and ham? Both are taken from the pigs hind legs. Gammon has been cured by being salted, brined or smoked and is sold raw. Ham has been dry-cured or cooked and is sold ready to eat. So, if youre buying it from the supermarket or your butcher to cook yourself, its called gammon.
Even before the word gammon took on unpleasant connotations, I didnt like it. It sounds puffy and pink. Thank goodness it becomes ham once youve cooked it.
Gammon is not necessarily inexpensive. A kilo of native-breed gammon (brine-cured) is about 19 from my favourite online butchers and would feed five. A notch down but still good-quality, M&S has 1kg unsmoked gammon (outdoor-bred) for about 13.
A smaller joint for two with a little leftover about 750g is less expensive. Whatever size you buy youll have stock from cooking it therefore soup and proper ham makes a great pie filling, pasta bake and superb sandwiches. In pies it works with leftover chicken, leeks, spinach, eggs and cheese. Its quite hard not to make several meals out of a ham. I offer you a meal for two to three people, and two others to make with the leftovers from a larger joint.
The intangible advantage of cooking gammon is the smell it creates. It is deeply savoury, the green herbal scent of parsley and celery lapping its sides. Did I win my sons over? My biggest saucepan is sitting on the hob, and that lovely smell is drifting towards the kitchen table. Green eggs and ham (below) will be on the menu this week.
Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 12:07 pm