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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Prob a thread for Irish input, but AIBU to not know why only gammon in UK, no bacon?

67 replies

DoTheHop · 15/12/2019 17:17

Does anyone know the difference between bacon and gammon?
I googled and it said it comes from different parts of the three little piggies.
But what's the difference exactly?
If you're Irish and living in the UK, have you adopted the gammon?
It looks paler maybe to me and maybe a little tougher in some respects.
When cooking, I boil it, like I would do with bacon and it seems similar but just not quite the same?

Can anyone butcher/Irish/English who knows their cuts of meat enlighten me on this British phenomenon?

For the UK posters, I've never really seen gammon on sale in Ireland, and vice versa for the UK?

OP posts:
Original poster
DoTheHop · 15/12/2019 17:18

Any chefs out there - feel free to educate me too! Grin

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 15/12/2019 17:19

I see bacon as those thin slices and gammon as a joint of meat. But what is a ham joint?

Original poster
DoTheHop · 15/12/2019 17:20

BTW the reason I ask, is I'm supposed to be doing a version of the trad bacon & cabbage for an English friend, and I'm wondering will my version of cooking gammon be absolutely insane to them. They cooked gammon joint for me before but it was cooked in the oven.

OP posts:
Original poster
DoTheHop · 15/12/2019 17:20

I know ham is more expensive, but don't know why.

OP posts:
mamapants · 15/12/2019 17:21

You don't boil bacon surely? You grill or fry it.
You get bacon and gammon in UK but they are totally different. Like demented pixie says bacon are thin rashers and gammon is big and round and much thicker.

HappySeven · 15/12/2019 17:21

Do you mean you can't seem to find boiling bacon in the UK or what we call boiling bacon is what you would call gammon? I buy boiling bacon here from the butchers' or supermarkets.

Original poster
DoTheHop · 15/12/2019 17:22

Oh you mean rashers? No, we have bacon joints, like you'd have gammon joints?

OP posts:
HappySeven · 15/12/2019 17:23

Boiling bacon is a big joint I would cook in a pan covered in water. My mother would do it in the pressure cooker and we would eat it with parsley sauce. I'm English.

Original poster
DoTheHop · 15/12/2019 17:23

When cooking bacon in Ireland (the thinly sliced breakfast bacon is what we call rashers), it's a big joint, for all the world, exactly like a gammon joint.

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 15/12/2019 17:24

So once you cook gammon it becomes ham! Magical

yorkshiredalesfood.co.uk/2015/07/14/gammon-bacon-or-ham-whats-the-difference/

Original poster
DoTheHop · 15/12/2019 17:24

@HappySeven - yes that's what I'm talking about.

So what's the difference between that and a gammon joint?

OP posts:
HappySeven · 15/12/2019 17:26

@DoTheHop, I don't know! I just ask for boiling bacon when I go to the butcher. Not really thought about it being called gammon but then it's not labelled.

Ponoka7 · 15/12/2019 17:26

Gammon is a type of bacon. Think steaks. They come from different parts of the pig, gammon is the hind leg. Traditionally bacon is dry cured and gammon was wet cured.

You can fry gammon, but it still tastes different from bacon.

My Irish DH preferred gammon. But they kept pigs and used all of them. They just might not call it gammon.

Original poster
DoTheHop · 15/12/2019 17:27

Ok, so bacon is belly/back and gammon is leg.

Hmm.

OP posts:
Ponoka7 · 15/12/2019 17:27

Ham is from a cooked gammon joint. I've heard gammon be called frying ham.

TheCanterburyWhales · 15/12/2019 17:27

Delia says gammon is what becomes ham when it's cooked/cured.

Original poster
DoTheHop · 15/12/2019 17:29

I realise my OP is probably confusing as what you call bacon, we call rashers and what you would cook in a joint of gammon, we would boil a joint of bacon.

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 15/12/2019 17:29

Gammon becomes ham when cooked

dementedpixie · 15/12/2019 17:30

It must be terminology then as we call rashers bacon and a joint would be gammon

Original poster
DoTheHop · 15/12/2019 17:31

Gammon is already cured though? It's salty anyway!

In Ireland too for Christmas dinner, we'd have turkey and ham. The ham isn't your sliced ham, but it's the joint the ham would be sliced from. Boiled and then backed in the oven usually. Or just boiled.

OP posts:
Mumdiva99 · 15/12/2019 17:32

Actually I don't think you've had a definite answer here yet. I live in the UK and for years have tried to find out the difference between gammon, bacon and raw ham joints. It depends on who you ask as to the answer you get. Lol. And most people can't taste the difference anyway. The difference will come from the cooking. Just make sure if it's been brined that you either soak it or boil it before baking (if you are going to bake it). If you're boiling it then change the water to reduce salt. (I've asked many people over the years and an yet to get a clear consistent answer).

dementedpixie · 15/12/2019 17:32

Yes a gammon joint is cured but still needs to be cooked. It then becomes a ham joint for you to slice and eat

Original poster
DoTheHop · 15/12/2019 17:33

You don't seem to do turkey and ham here I don't think for Christmas? It's more turkey and pigs in blankets? (never heard of those either until moving the 1 million miles to the exotic shores of England).

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 15/12/2019 17:34

A lot of people do Turkey and ham in England. Dont think it's as common in Scotland

VanyaHargreeves · 15/12/2019 17:34

Came to say what the British call Bacon is called Rashers but I see I was beaten. What you mean would be called a Ham Joint and Gammon is usually steaks.

It's rare to find Bacon Ribs for sale here as well and they are so nice.