Bacon joint

Nomad25

I am so chuffed - very new to slow cooking, had a gammon to cook on Friday, printed off all your recipes - thank you, thank you big time, BUT no apple juice, so trying to be o/s went for nearest sub I could find and used .... dry cider. Joint was so tasty and tender. I'm doing it in pasta + sauce tonight for leftovers.

DeeisMe

Please help..... have bought a bacon joint today to cook and use the meat for sandwiches. Do I need to soak the bacon joint first in cold water? and for how long? How long would it take to cook?

Would appreciate any help as I am very new to all this!!

leiela

i usually just soak it for 30mins or so then bung it into my SC on low.

I leave my SC on all day while im at work about 10hours + and it's cooked with i get back, but i don't know exactly how soon i "could" have removed it sorry, i would imagine about 6-7 hours on high depending on the size and power of your SC?

DeeisMe

leiela wrote: »

i usually just soak it for 30mins or so then bung it into my SC on low.

I leave my SC on all day while im at work about 10hours + and it's cooked with i get back, but i don't know exactly how soon i "could" have removed it sorry, i would imagine about 6-7 hours on high depending on the size and power of your SC?

Thanks so much for the advice ... will give it a go and hope it turns out ok. I'm in all day so it will be on for hours! Was thinking maybe leaving it about 10 hours on a low setting??

leiela

I leave mine on for 10 hours all the time on low it's fine, you might fine abit of meat at the bottom stick's to the bottom of the dish but it should be fine to eat, i've never had a problem.

Apricot

I bought a bacon joint this morning but I have no idea what to do with it. I don't have a slow cooker but I was thinking of making some sort of soup / stew with it. If anybody has any ideas of what to do with it & how to cook it I would be very grateful

Trinny

do you know if its smoked or unsmoked? Some bacon joints can be salty ( eg a ham hock) and need to be soaked for a few hours.

You could boil it until cooked - slice and serve with mashed pots and onion/parsley sauce
Otherwise - boil for an hour and then roast until cooked - serve in the same way
Or you could cut it into gammon steaks - nice grilled with egg or pineapple rings.

Just a few ideas - i am sure someone better than me will be along in a minute

Trin

Apricot

Thanks for that, its not smoked - Im loving the mash & parsley sauce idea, didn't even think of that!

CCP

I love boiled bacon - it's one of my favourite meals. I usually have all sorts of bright ideas for what I want to do with it, but end up with much less meat than intended as I can't resist cutting another slice every time I go in the kitchen.

I would second Trinny's suggestion to soak the joint for a few hours first - even good quality bacon can be a bit salty otherwise. Then stick it in a large pan, cover with water, add some peppercorns and a bayleaf (if you've got any - I'm lucky enough to have a huge baytree growing in my garden, so I've always got plenty ), bring to the boil and simmer for 2 - 3 hours (depending on the size of the joint).

You can then cut off the meat and use it for whatever you like - slices reheated in a lentil and veg stew is my current favourite. If the cooking water isn't overpoweringly salty then you can use that as stock to make soup; if the joint is on the bone, then you can also use the bone afterwards to make more stock - it won't have quite as much flavour as the original cooking water, but will still be good for things like minestrone soup.

I hope that's helpful.

I really fancy boiled bacon now. Shame it's not on my meal plan, really.:(

Agapanthus

I usually put the bacon joint in cold water, bring it to the boil, drain the water off and then put it in clean cold water to soak overnight before boiling.

If you have the time, it's particularly nice boiled for an hour in ginger ale (with a few peppercorns and a bayleaf or two if you have them) and then roasted in the oven with a coating of mustard, brown sugar and a few cloves stuck in it. Mash and parsley sauce with peas or broad beans are my favourite accompaniments. Yum yum!

Any leftovers can be sliced and frozen - it makes excellent sandwiches.

If you use ginger ale you can't use the liquid for soup though - I've never found anything it goes with!