Cooking a ham

[melliebobs]

Ok so I've bought a gammon joint (unsmoked no bone) I intend to cover the thing in cloves, brown sugar, honey and sit it in cider in the slow cooker for a day.

What I want to know is the joint has a really thick layer of fat/skin (2cm ish) that's really tough on the top. Do I keep this on or peel it off?!

I did the Nigella one with cola at xmas, and you left everything on to boil it, then took off the skin to glaze it at the end in the oven.

Peel it off. I've not done one in the slow cooker, but I tend to roast in the oven with honey and whole grain mustard. Peel the skin - criss cross the top of the fat, then stud with cloves, slather in sugar/honey and dump it in the slow cooker in the cider. Sounds lovely BTW.

I'm not really sure. I left it on when I did my ham in coke for Christmas, but I put it in the oven for 20 mins after slow cooker with cloves and brown sugar etc marinade. It would have been difficult to put the cloves in if the fat hadn't been scored in diamonds. It was also, overall a much more subtle taste. We cut the fat off as we served it, slice at a time.

Before you put the cloves, sugar and honey on it you have to take off the skin. However, you can cook it in cider in the slow cooker with the skin on because that will help it retain it's shape and not fall apart, then take that off leaving a thin layer of fat. Score the fat and put in the cloves, cover with sugar and honey, then put in a hot oven for 10-15 mins.

Ah fantastic. Cheers guys! Just looked at the nigella recipe and it makes a bit more sense.

Slow cooker
Peel
Marinade and oven

Thanks muchly

I normally boil it for around an hour and then sear the fat, smoother with mustard powder and then drizzle with honey and bake for an hour. I've also tried a recipe before that I think was on the deliaonline site that boiled the ham with a 50/50 split of water and cider. - it sounds a bit gross and didn't smell great but it was yummy!

Ginger ale, not sugar free, Nigella swears by it.

Gordon Ramsay has one - google I think it's on the bbc website - it is lovely.

I soak for about 6hrs, or even overnight, tip the water away and re-fill. Then bring to the boil in the new water, and tip the second lot of water away, then re-fill and bring to the boil again, leaving the fat on. Calculate your cooking time from when it comes to the boil for the second time. This gets rid of more of the salt IMO. If you were going to use Ginger Ale of Coke Cola, this would replace yopur third batch of water.