adapting nigella ham in cola for smaller size ham and does it work with smoked gammon- any tips

[givemeaclue]

am thinking of doing the nigella cola ham at xmas, haven't made it before so going to have a practice run next weekend.

she says 2.5k of ham but that would be too big, thinking of a 1.2 kilo one - how would I adapt the recipe (e.g cooking time less? less cola?) - anyone done this

also on tesco website where I'm doing my shop they either have:

finest wiltshire cure unsmoked gammon joint (£17.98 yikes)

or the smaller applewood dry cure smoked gammon joint (£9 is half price)

but does the recipe work with the smoked gammon?

any tips?

thanks

I've always done it with smoked gammon and just followed the instructions on the label for cooking time. It's always been lovely, a real treat.

I use cola or cider for any size of gammon, whether smoked or not. I tend to soak smoked gammon overnight in water first, to get rid of excessive salt.
You just need enough coke or cider to cover the joint, I top up with water if a 2 litre bottle is not enough. Not sure how long to cook as I bung mine in the slow cooker all day. Don't forget to add some other flavourings as well, onion, peppercorns and star anise are good.

I've done it with smoked and unsmoked. Much preferred it unsmoked but that is clearly a personal preference.

Can't help on cooking time sorry. I also do about 1.2 kg and just guess. It's always yummy.

me to, just cover the ham in the coke, gotta be full fat coke tho, non of this diet stuff.
Are you doing it in a slow cooker?
Ive never paid that much for a ham..£9 sounds ok.
Tis to die for in a slow cooker, yum.

If its a slow cooker i just sling it in on low all day and forget about it.

have been wondering about trying this for a while .... do you literally just need a gammon joint and full fat coke in a slow cooker all day ... or do you need to add anything else?

nope, chuckit in, top up with coke, put on low then leave all day.
honestly it is delsih, just falls to peices.

We are addicted to ham/gammon in full fat Dr Pepper, done in the slow cooker. Unsmoked seems to work better this way. You can't go wrong.
Just make sure the gammon is covered.
Strangely, the cheaper the gammon, the better it seems to work. I use a Tesco Value one quite a lot.

See! another fan of cheepo meat amde delish in a slow cooker.
flip bonds with Gay

Gay40 you need a Christmas name..what about gaybells40??
What can i change oflip inot to make it christmassy?? tinselflip or o!christmasflip ..hmmmm.

maybe I should give it a try tomorrow. What do you have with it? Does it need sauce/gravy if you do veg/potatoes? I am a ham and coke virgin!!!

Riiiiight i had a thread about this a few agos and you slow cooking hams didnt come forward. I did mine all day in the slow cooker and it came out all shredded like a ham hock rather than a carvable joint.

What went wrong?

I have served the ham with:
Tomato salad and mozzerella cubes
Oven tomatoes sprinkled with sea salt and olive oil, and home made oven chips
Jacket potato and cheese
Macaroni cheese
Pease pudding and some oven warm bread
Also as part of a 1970s salad buffet

That's what I do with the gammon that actually makes it to the table, becase when it is ready for cutting and serving, people keep taking bits off it

Mine has never shredded, so I don't know what happened there. The best one for keeping its shape was the Sainsburys Healthy Eating or Look After Yourself - whatever that range is called. The low fat rangewith green/blue label.
However, I do remember my mum making soup and her ham shredded but she wanted it to. Not sure how she achieved this either.

ooh those sound good Gay40! Am now definitely going to give it a try tomorrow.

It's so tender and moist in the slow cooker, it has never needed a gravy or sauce, but as an experiment I once reduced the cooking liquid to a thick sauce to see if it was worth it.
It wasn't, and was enough to bring on diabetes and a sugar coma.

I have done it with a samll 500-1kg one and I brought it to the boil and simmered for 10 mins in water to get the salt out then simmered in coke for 50 mins then baked for 30 mins. It was great.

However if cost is an issue Sainsburys have their 2.5 gammon joints half price at the mo and I just got one for just over £10.

I bought a ham in sainsburys last week- half price.

Oops sorry, should have read whole thread

Thanks all for your replies, top tips, recommendations for cooking times and sainsburys half price ham advice. I did indeed get me the half price ham, cooked it in the cola as per your advice tonight and it was really nice. Having the rest cold tomorrow. Will now be the christmas eve dinner and have the rest on boxing day with cold turkey.

Think will do with dauphinoise potatoes and veg on christmas eve?

Do any of you domestic goddesses have other similar -easy-but-delicious recipes that you care to share?!