making my own sandwich ham - how?

[Jibberoo]

Hello,

I'm not a great cook but have started to get worried by how much processed/store bought ham my DS eats (every day for school lunch). With all the preservatives and salt they pack into it I'm realising i need to try and make my own ham for sandwiches but I simply have no idea how.
I especially want to make it in a way so that as little salt is used as possible but again not sure what cut to buy. I have a great butcher so would be able to buy any cut needed just not sure what to ask for and then what to do with it.

can anyone help me?

try a gammon joint or a bacon joint (cheaper). Bring to boil in cold water then change water. Can then either boil (covered) in water or cherry coke (yum) very slowly for approx 2 hours depending on size of joint. You don't need to do anything else to it - it'll be fine as it is - but if you wanted you could finish in the oven. Tastes great!

go to the front page of mumsnet - they have given a whole list of sarnie alternatives that do not contain processed meat.

thanks MSP1 just to check, the gammon joint if its purchased from butcher would that still make it processed?

I know there are other alternatives for lunches - trust me i've tried to get DS to eat them - but if I want him to eat his lunch it has to be plain ham sandwich (at least he accepts brown bread!). He's too young for schoold dinners so need a solution until he can switch to that.

not sure why a bacon joint would be processed? It is a whole piece of meat so I would say it would not count that way - I do this every week boiling piece of ham to make sandwiches - sometimes I roast it with honey and sugar to make an alternative - it tastes really good in sandwiches and I would never go back to the ready made stuff - better and cheaper this way. You can get rid of salt with chnaging water as above or soaking for couple of hours in water and using clean to cook.

if you use an unsmoked joint, it will have less salt in it as well. I do this and it always turns out yummy.

Curing in salt (with all bacon/gammon) is a process.

ok thanks - will try getting a raw (un cured one) from butcher. So for the actual cooking do i boil it (how long for?) or roast it (again how)?

Lots in the news about this today. One of the issues with processed meat seems to be link between nitrites they use for preserving and links to cancer. So anything 'processed' is basically anything that has been preserved or cured, which can apply to bacon, sausages, ham, parma ham, chorizo, basically anything that is not fresh meat. Hopefully this will spur manufacturers into creating nitrate free products so we can all eat bacon and sausages again!

Just buy a point of pork or beef and roast it. I go buy guidelines on the pack (from the supermarket) its something like 180 degrees, 25 minutes for each 500g plus 25 minutes. If the juices don't run clear from pork it needs more cooking.

No need to boil if its not ham, the boiling is to try to reduce the salt a bit.

Uncured bacon is just pork, the same amount of salt is used whether it is smoked or unsmoked (we do our own gammon/bacon).

Love to know what alternative they cam come up with apart from sodium nitrate.

The whole point of ham is that it is preserved. Not sure what you can do other than cook pork.

'Processed' is anything that takes meat from being fresh to and end product. Curing pork with salts and nitrates is processing. Gammon/bacon, even when raw, are cured... usually by injecting the curing brine into the meat. To replicate the curing process at home you have to pack your piece of meat in preserving salts for a fairly long period of time. Far better just to eat less ham, sausages and meat in general.

Your DS will probably get used to chicken pretty quickly.

I'm pleased that this news story has been finally getting attention. I've been saying "actually a ham sandwich with salad on whole wheat bread every day is not a brilliantly healthy lunchbox option" in lunchbox threads for years and people have been backing away from the mad woman.

sorry I don't get this - if you cook a joint of meat from a pig without the preserving - then it will be pork not ham. If you use uncured bacon - then it is preserved and therefore processed meat so you are back at the beginning

"I'm realising i need to try and make my own ham for sandwiches"

The realisation should actually be to put something else on the sandwiches...

Agree with points above, but we do have small ham / gammon joints occasionally. I put them in cold water and bring to boil twice, before roasting. It is processed by the salting / smoking process, but a lot of salt will be removed by the soaking / boiling in water.

Have it sometimes (yum - especially if you put a bit of honey / maple syrup and mustard on it while roasting), but not everyday.

Tbh, I'd just get it off the bone from the deli.