Gammon stock

Izzy.

Today I tried a gammon in the slow cooker. I hadnt any apple juice so I covered the bottom of the slow cooker with water, added two sliced apples and drizzled the lot with honey.

The gammon is in the oven crisping up now but I am left with this lovely smelling stock that I cant bear to throw out. Does anybody have any ideas how I could use it? It is very appley.

Ted_Hutchinson

Great for soup. Be careful if it's a bit salty so don't add any until you've checked. Lentil and tomato would be nice but a carrot soup using a bacon and apple stock would be fine.

jan59

Izzy. wrote:

Today I tried a gammon in the slow cooker. I hadnt any apple juice so I covered the bottom of the slow cooker with water, added two sliced apples and drizzled the lot with honey.

The gammon is in the oven crisping up now but I am left with this lovely smelling stock that I cant bear to throw out. Does anybody have any ideas how I could use it? It is very appley.

I often buy a ham hock (or ham shank as they are called around here, but you do get funny looks asking for them in other parts of the country............!) I use the meat for pies, sandwiches (or ham egg and chips on a 'naughty' day) and bits go back into the following soup:

Equal quantities of yellow split peas and red lentils ( I use a mugful each in a pressure cooker) - leave overnight to 'steep', or cook up in pressure cooker and leave to cool. Add finely chopped onion, then grate in carrots, parsnips and swede. Bring to low simmer if cooking on the stove, otherwise pressure cook for about 15 mins. Lovely thick broth - my family call it Gashouse broth in honour of the times when they had to queue at the local gas works for the cinders to go on the fire........ Bit of a family heirloom thing.

ladygrey_2

carrot soup using gammon/apple stock sounds scrummy

Wonder_Girl

I bought a shiny new slowcooker the other day, and i have cooked in it for the first time

I cooked a gammon joint and now have gammon juice left over, i was planning on making a beef stew tomorrow, can i use the gammon stock as the base for my beef stew? or will it not taste nice?

Thank you

gerretl

It probably wont. The water is very salty. If you are cooking gammon agin, seriously consider cooking it in Coca Cola. I kid thee not. We marinated one in coke, and baked it last christmas. It was great

recovering_spendaholic

TBH it might taste a bit iffy if you use the gammon water - much better would be to chop an onion, a couple of carrots, a bit of celery and a mug of lentils and throw them into the slow cooker with the gammon water and you will get a bit pot of lovely lentil soup. Or you could make a kind of meatless hotpot with shredded cabbage, sliced onions and finely sliced potatoes. Season with white pepper, pour the gammon water over, dot with butter and bake in the proper oven for about an hour and a half. Will be lovely served with the gammon itself.

Ticklemouse

I always cook my gammon in apple juice then use what's left over as a base for veg soup (with or without bits of ham in it) It tastes deelish and in fact I made another HUGE pan full today.

As for using it with beef - probably not the best idea. Just freeze it until you want to use it

Wonder_Girl

gerretl wrote:

It probably wont. The water is very salty. If you are cooking gammon agin, seriously consider cooking it in Coca Cola. I kid thee not. We marinated one in coke, and baked it last christmas. It was great

Well I would have never thought if that! So next time just chuck it in the slow cooker and cover in coke? I’ll give anything a try once

recovering_spendaholic wrote:

TBH it might taste a bit iffy if you use the gammon water - much better would be to chop an onion, a couple of carrots, a bit of celery and a mug of lentils and throw them into the slow cooker with the gammon water and you will get a bit pot of lovely lentil soup. Or you could make a kind of meatless hotpot with shredded cabbage, sliced onions and finely sliced potatoes. Season with white pepper, pour the gammon water over, dot with butter and bake in the proper oven for about an hour and a half. Will be lovely served with the gammon itself.

Ohh i like the sound of that last thing! I might do that to serve with it next time it sounds lovely

Thank you both :beer:

Wonder_Girl

Ticklemouse wrote:

I always cook my gammon in apple juice then use what's left over as a base for veg soup (with or without bits of ham in it) It tastes deelish and in fact I made another HUGE pan full today.

As for using it with beef - probably not the best idea. Just freeze it until you want to use it

Oh thats a great idea! I'll make a veg soup overnight then do my stew from scratch tomorrow :j

I didn't think it would be a good idea but i thought "heck, these OS's have come up with things a lot stranger";)

liz545

gerretl wrote:

It probably wont. The water is very salty. If you are cooking gammon agin, seriously consider cooking it in Coca Cola. I kid thee not. We marinated one in coke, and baked it last christmas. It was great

I did this, based on the recipe in Nigella Lawson's Feast and it turned out really well - moist, and kind of spicy tasting. She suggests using the cooking water to cook red cabbage, which I haven't tried, but it's very OS!