What to do with a ginormous gammon joint

[Doodadoo]

I decided last week to place an order for delivery of meat from a butchers as the pricing seemed lower than supermarkets.

One of the things I wrote on the order was "gammon joint".

This is the type of thing I meant.

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/301832309

What I actually got was something like this.

groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-large-unsmoked-gammon-joint-298554011?gclid=Cj0KCQiA1NebBhDDARIsAANiDD1l0hBWH_Lh06NWwScY-VjRm4vu5Vg9ek2mfNNLJW4DJWiOB9Z8dhQaAjbtEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

😧

When the order arrived, I was about to attend a zoom meeting so I just put the two very large bags into the fridge, to then freeze. When I finished work (wfh) I opened up the bags to put them all in the freezer (various different items) and discovered this monstrosity!

There is absolutely no way that I would A) know what the hell to do with it or B) eat it in a year! There's only DH and I here for Christmas as dd is going away to friends.

It's currently residing in my freezer.

Has anyone any suggestions as to who might appreciate such an item? It's the kind of size that would feed 20 people on Christmas Day and a further 20 people on Boxing Day!

I'm not sure about policies that homeless charities have for donations of meat? Would they be allowed to accept it? Or are there Facebook pages or similar where you can donate food or something? I've never donated anything like this so don't know whether anyone would accept raw meat. I don't want to see it go to waste and the butchers can't take it back of course (it wasn't their fault - it never dawned on me that what I wrote meant ordering half a pig).

I'm in North London if anyone happens to want it lol. It's free to a good home!

Contact the local Salvation Army or WI. They normally organise a Christmas dinner for homeless or lonely old people and would be thrilled to have it.

I would defrost it and cook it and then re-portion into manageable amounts and freeze them individually. That way you can just get out of the freezer the amount you need for a meal.

I would have done the portioning before I froze it but it's too late for that now🙂

Thanks. Hadn't thought of them. I'll look up the Salvation army and give them a call. What is WI?

This would take about 20 hours to cook!!!!!!!

I would defrost, cut in half or quarters and cook. Then freeze in portions. Or give to charity if you can afford to do so.

Cook it eat what you want freshly cooked. You can then freeze the cooked meat to use in pies, pasta etc. if you’re really efficient you can make and freeze the pies.
you can cut frozen meat up with a saw

I would de-frost and cook then slice/chunk up and put portions in the freezer to use throughout the year.

I came here because I thought there was gin involved. Need to stop fixating on my Thursday G&T after work!

I have no intentions of cooking it because I have never cooked something this size before and I'm a crap cook even with things I know how to cook. We simply wouldn't get through that amount of gammon in a year.

Luckily I didn't write "what to do with a ginormous joint" haha or I'd have the drugs squad at my door lol.

I buy a whole leg of ham each Christmas. I cut it into chunks (DH has given me my own hacksaw blade), wrap the pieces in foil, weigh and freeze. We are eating the last piece next week then I order the next one. It comes up really well, I promise.

so, in your case, I would defrost in the fridge for a couple of days, cut into chunks, wrap and freeze.

How heavy is it??

Can you thaw and refreeze raw?

What does it weigh? And do you have a large enough saucepan to cook it?

I'd defrost it and either cook it whole or cut it into small enough pieces to fit whatever pans you have.

Then slice some and have for sandwiches - freeze slices in small batches so you can get a few out at a time.

Thicker slices go well with chips and an egg.

Dice some and freeze in small matches for soups and stews, omelettes, pasta, in nasi goreng, mixed with cheese and mayo in a baked potato - there are lots of options.

Depending on the freezer space I'd also freeze some of the cooking liquid for lentil or pea soup. It's a great addition.

And if necessary I'd give some to family or friends.

I don't know. It just has Large Gammon Joint written in black marker on the outside of the bag.

I don't think a saucepan exists that would house this thing! Even my biggest saucepan would only fit half of it. The thing is that I'm not actually familiar with gammon at all. I'm Irish and we boil what's called bacon (but looks like a SMALL gammon joint) and since moving to London, you don't really have that here and gammon seems to be similar, so I boil the little gammon joints instead. I've seen an aunt of mine cook something similar in size but it's called a ham at Christmas as she normally has about 20 people for dinner and is a very accomplished cook! I've a feeling she might boil it and then 'finish' it in the oven?

I'd far prefer to donate it to a charity that would actually use it.

It's about the size of a turkey I'd say.

Can you weigh it or does it have the weight somewhere on the label?

I'd have cut it up raw and frozen it in portions.

My kitchen weighing scales only measure up to 1 kg and this looks like it's about 5 kilos to me. Mind you, I'm not the best with weights.

I'd soak in water for at least 24 hours changing every few hours. Then boil for 2 - 2.30 hours. And slice some as thin as possible for sandwiches (so I don't have to buy ham) and some thicker for Ham, egg and chips dinners.

And yes it freezes well.

It’s honestly one of the easiest things to cook. I reckon it’s the same as boiling the bacon. Basically you can boil it or roast it or do a mixture of the two. This page has all the cooking times - you calculate how long by how heavy it is. www.lovepork.co.uk/how-to-guides/gammon-ham/cooking-gammon/

If your kitchen scales aren’t big enough, I’d weigh it by standing yourself on bathroom scales first without it, then with it. And calculate the difference!

I’d share it with the woman from the other thread… oh wait, she doesn’t eat pork.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4677946-in-a-cafe-and-a-woman-has-just-complained-funny

I cook gammon in slow cooker easiest thing ever. Cover with water add 5-6 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and a spoonful of honey. Cook for min 6-8hrs for a small joint so if you can cut it in half you could get it in?