Difference between Gammon and Ham???

Belladonna1

Gammon is the name given to the meat from the hind legs of a pig that has been cured in the same way as bacon. The main difference between gammon and ham is that gammon will be sold raw and needs to be cooked; ham is sold cooked or dry-cured and ready for eating. Once gammon is cooked it can be called a ham and may be sold as a gammon ham.

gibson123

Blame it on the French!!

The word Ham is from the word Hom or Ham which is old English for the bend of the knew, so ham is from the leg joint.

Then those blasted French conquered the English and then Norman French Words came into vogue - so the French word is from jambe meaning leg.

So both Ham and Gammon are cured legs of pork.

Then of course the germans got into the act with Hamburger which of course is beef, but his was invented in Hamburg so is named after the city and has nothing to do with Pork.
And talking about the germans they gave us the word Bacon from the ols High German work bacho meaning buttocks. So in conclusion we go around medieval Europe and arrive at a pigs bum.

Have I answered the question? :D:p:D:p:D:p

nuatha

Strictly, ham is a foreleg joint and gammon is a hindquarter joint.
Not helped by cooked gammon often being sold as ham.
HTH

bossymoo

seraphina wrote: »

IIRC, both ham and gammon are cured.

My understanding is that gammon is cut after the whole carcass has been cured, whilst ham is first cut from the carcass and then cured.

haddckandchips wrote: »

The answer is that they are both cut from the leg of pig and are both cured meats, but the difference between the two is that:

HAM - The meat is cut from the leg of a pig and then the cuts of meat are cured (treated with salt).
GAMMON - The whole carcass of the pig is cured first as one mass, and then the meat is cut from the leg afterwards.

So it's simply the difference of whether it's cured before or after being cut from the leg.

(someone said this earlier but seemed to have got ignored)

^^^^ these

It's the order of cutting / curing that determines whether its gammon or ham