I want to start cooking my own ham to make Nice Ham for sandwiches

[morningpaper]

If you do this, what is your weekly schedule i.e. what day do you cook it on?

And how do you slice it thin enough?

How do you eke it out and not gobble it all up?

[TheFool]

I would be forced to stand with a knife, slice of chunks, glare at anyone who comes near me...

That isn't going to help with sandwiches etc though

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

I cook it on a Sunday. We have it hot for Sunday dinner and enough for sandwiches for the week. It is easy to cut thin when cold, stopping the family from eating it all on Sunday is the tricky bit. I am considering investing in a lock for the fridge.

[TrillianAstrahasaJOB]

Cut chunks to eat with potatoes etc for a meal, make sure that these chinks leave you with at least one flat edge. Stand the ham on the flat edge so you can slice it as thinly as you can.

In theory slicing only as you need it would stop the nibbling of pre-cut slices, but in reality (for us at least) it would just mean that DP would make lots of knives dirty and hack at it.

I do this with cheapy gammon joints - even value ones make 'nice ham' when boiled/roasted (and I do it on whatever day early in the week I remember to do it)

[TheFool]

(TA - I have a book )

[TheOtherMaryPoppinsDiets]

Nice ham

Are you my MIL??

[FreewheelinFranklin]

an associated Nice Ham related question - do you buy Gammon or Bacon joints ? and what is the difference ? I got a bacon joint at Chistmas and it wasn't very nice. And what are your tips for cooking ? sorry for hijack morningpaper but these are questions of vital importance !

[notamumyetbutoneday]

I would LOVE to know how to boil a ham but I have no idea where to start. Take me back to basics, people- where in the supermarket (Butchers smutchers I live in the middle of nowhere) would I find the ham to be boiled? Is it like a gammon joint?Is it a gammon joint? I am confused.

Then once purchased, do I need to do anything before boilin it? Do I boil it in just water or stock? How long for?

I am scared by the seemingly difficult process involved.

[notamumyetbutoneday]

x-post FF!

[notamumyetbutoneday]

Um, I forgot to say either please or thank you in my post. i am very rude when it comes to matters of ham it seems.

[llareggub]

I don't boil; I roast. I glaze with honey or sometimes add cloves.

[FreewheelinFranklin]

[FreewheelinFranklin]

Yes I got a bit carried away with the questions and didn't say thanks either. Just excited at the prospect of Nice Ham on a daily basis.

[notamumyetbutoneday]

I do feel a quite irrational need to be able to boil a ham, FF. I think I beleive that if I am able to acquire this skill my transfromation into a domestic goddess will be complete. I just need to start doing housework now...

[notamumyetbutoneday]

LLAreggub, if you roast, does it still make Nice Ham as you would have in sandwiches?

[Ohforfoxsake]

gammon is an uncooked ham (I think that's the right way round).

I just bung it in the over and roast it. Or, you can boil it in coke a la Nigella, which is very, very nice. Did that last Christmas and keep meaning to do it again.

And don't make homemade bread with the intention to make really good sarnies. Like TheFool says, you will stand guard with a knife, and devour it with a block of butter before you know it.

[notamumyetbutoneday]

How long do you roast it for please fox sake? I quite literally have no idea where to start, I need temperatures and timings, please!

[EffieGadsby]

Oooooh, I want to make a Nice Ham to pick at too. DP does not eat the meat of the pig, but I'm sure if I can get a smallish one, I can work my way through it before it goes bad.

Does anyone know how long a ham keeps for once it has been cooked?

[TrillianAstrahasaJOB]

I did some on a Monday, put it in an airtight tub in the fridge, and it still smelled fine on the Sunday (that was a very restrained week or perhaps a very large bit of ham).

Can't help with cooking times I'm afraid, I usually boil it as much as it says on the packet and then stick it in a low oven for a bit for good measure.

[SoupDragon]

Oh god, just buy a packet of ham from Waitrose.

[TrillianAstrahasaJOB]

Noooooooo. You don't get it Soupy. It's so lovely to have a big lump of ham that you can carve off.

[llareggub]

I've no idea how long to roast it for. I just follow the cooking instructions on the label. Really, if I can do it anyone can. And yes, it makes damn fine nice ham for sandwiches which is why I try not to do it too often.

[Flower3545]

I often buy a corner gammon joint from our local Dixons shop.

They are often very salty so it's best to soak overnight in cold water.

Next morning empty out water fill up with clean cold water then bring to the boil.

When it boils I tip out the water fill up with cold water and bring to the boil again before simmering for 20 minutes per lb.

It's a lot of fuss I know but well worth it

Oh, and on a very poncetastic note I have an electric meat slicer

[notamumyetbutoneday]

Thank you everyone, I will attempt this soon.

Flower3545: Dixons? Is the gammon next to the washing machines or the plasma screen TVs?!

[Flower3545]

No silly, Dixons is our local pork butchers

[TrillianAstrahasaJOB]

That's what I thought of Dixons!