Gristle

[AnythingButMagnolia]

Why?

I even bought some vegetarian 'ham' the other day and it had imitation gristle (white horrible translucent bits). Thankfully without the texture of the real thing.

AIBU never to eat a ham sandwich which I gave not personally prepared degristled?

Sounds like you bought ham ham.

Bleuch.

Gristle is why I became a vegetarian.

It’s one of the reasons I stopped eating meat about 20 years ago.
I wouldn’t trust meat cooked by anyone else, especially meat that had fat on it like bacon.

I know what you mean about vegi ham. It doesn’t taste any different though. I think they just put it in there so the whole slice isn’t one solid colour.

Wtf is ham ham?

Ham ham, as in ham made out of pig. Actual ham.

Yuck. I am not vegetarian, but the thought of gristle, even typing it, could persuade me.

I don't get why people think vegetarians want the taste and texture of meat. Urgh urgh urgh!

Ham that's what ham has always been...

YANBU As others had said, one of the reasons I don't eat meat. I really really dislike the taste and texture of meat. I never buy vegetarian 'meat' products. I don't like meat. I love lentils and other pulses.

I love ham, and crispy bacon

I love ham and crispy bacon too. I like the fat on crumbed sliced ham but I DO NOT like the nasty gristly bits in cheap ham.

Looking at ham in the supermarket, I think there's some kind of ham crisis at the moment. You need to pay nigh on a fiver for anything decent.

I've stopped buying ham for us (unless there's a decent looking one in Lidl) and just get the offcuts of proper ham if I go in Iceland or Aldi.

I rarely buy counter ham anymore because DP will feed it to the dog like it's packet ham FFS.

Eliza, I find bizarrely that even expensive ham sometimes has nasty gristly bits. The best ham (in terms of low levels of gristle) comes from Asda!

Ugh. I HATE gristle. And yes even expensive meat can have gristle. I've been travelling a lot in a country in Asia recently where gristle is weirdly considered the best bit and if you ask to buy meat without gristle they look at you like you're mad. They love to crunch the chewy bits and he bones. I'm usually pretty adventurous with food but I just can't get on board with this!

What brand was it?

Gristle is one reason I became veggie. I'm curious about the fake gristle though. I don't usually buy veggie "ham" so haven't noticed them doing this.

crunch the chewy bits

I'm not a veggie but I will only eat veggie sausages. My grandfather was a master butcher and made the best sausages with absolutely no gristly bits because he was a fussy sod, and he ate them too!

I've never found a sausage to match the quality and reliability of being gristle-free in the last 30 odd years, and I've tried my own local butcher, the 'best' supermarket high-meat content ones, and everything in between. Eventually, often just when I've started thinking, "These are ok - at last, I've found a sausage I can trust" a bit of gristle turns up!

So I do get funny looks when I order the veggie breakfast with a side of well-cooked bacon, but I refuse to take the risk!

Ham-wise the Waitrose Cotto ham is lovely - very thin slices, and very few bits I need to trim (often none) but I don't buy ham sandwiches made by anyone else - again, too many bad experiences. (Well, except the M&S ham and mustard mayo - they're generally reliably ok, but that's my limit!).

Quorn ham doesn't have fake gristle in it

I love gristle 😝