Gammon stock

Hellyboo

Hulloo everyone

I treated Oh and myself to a gammon joint for Sunday dinner today, but to justify it I'm trying to get as much out of it as possible! I have enough meat left for a ham,leek and potato pie tomorrow, and carbonara later in the week, and I also wanted to make soup.

Before I cooked the gammon I soaked it in cold water for about 8 hours, then bought the water to the boil, threw it away and replaced it with fresh water, and added a bay leaf and a few peppercorns. I then boiled it for about an hour and then roasted it for half an hour. I left the water in the pan and skimmed the fat off the top hoping to throw it in the slow cooker tomorrow with some of the left over ham, a finely sliced leek and some sweetcorn, and maybe a potato. The problem I've got is that the 'stock' that's left over is tasty, but really really salty. I don't think you could have more than a few mouthfulls before your tongue shrivelled up!

I've seen people post on here saying they've made soup from the water they've boiled the gammon in, so what did I do wrong? And more importantly is it salvageable, or shall I give up and use a stock cube!

purpleheather2810

Hmm, I've just done the same with a bacon joint and I made a yummy lentil and vegetable soup with it. Because you threw away the first water I don't understand why it's still so salty! You might find that if you make a large amount of soup with lots of vegetables and a good cupful of lentils or other pulses (which take a lot of seasoning) it might come out ok. However you could try cooking some potatoes in the stock first as they will absorb the salt.

katylou6180

I don't know if this helps, but my nan (god rest her soul) whenever her stock came out too salty she left a couple of spuds in the stock overnight, threw them away in the morning as they had absorbed the majority of the salt- but left enough for it to still be "tasty"

purpleheather2810

katylou6180 wrote: »

I don't know if this helps, but my nan (god rest her soul) whenever her stock came out too salty she left a couple of spuds in the stock overnight, threw them away in the morning as they had absorbed the majority of the salt- but left enough for it to still be "tasty"

It was probably my grandma or mum that I got that from too :rotfl:

Paulie'sGirl

katylou6180 wrote: »

I don't know if this helps, but my nan (god rest her soul) whenever her stock came out too salty she left a couple of spuds in the stock overnight, threw them away in the morning as they had absorbed the majority of the salt- but left enough for it to still be "tasty"

Hi, I've done something similar in the past to reduce the saltiness of ham stock. I boil the spuds in the stock for a while. Just keep tasting the stock.

Remember you can dilute the saltiness by adding more water too. If you add grated carrots and green/yellow split peas you get a lovely soup

PGxx

Hellyboo

Thanks, I'll try the potatoes and if not water it down and risk it! I guess I'll get more out of it that way too!

Agapanthus

I usually do soup with dried peas from gammon stock. By the time you've put those and a load of other vegetables in the salt has got somewhat diluted. Use lots of veg and add extra water if you're worried it'll be too salty. If you end up with more soup than you can eat then you can freeze some.

Fruball

I use gammon stock for lentil soup but I make a HUGE potful so I guess the stock is less concentrated. Looks like you will be getting a whole load more soup from that stock

I think I will get one next time I go shopping but I am being good and mealplanning/budgeting atm so I hope I won't be going shopping for a while

missworks2jobs

My dad always used to make leek & potato broth from the gammon stock (it was delicious). He used to sometimes cook pasta in it to absorb some of the saltiness. Sometimes he would cook dumplings in the broth mmmmmmmmm

DogsBody

I like nettle soup made with gammon stock too. Never heard of the spud thing for getting rid of saltiness (sack my granny at once!:p), will have to give that a go, cheers!