Ham economics

flutterbybutterfly

I've seen some recipe ideas on here in the past using a slow cooker (crockpot) to cook the ham, using no liquids. I am sure they mentioned freezing sliced ham on there too?

[Deleted User]

Little bit of uncooked ham/gammon from the butchers ,in my young day it was called boiling bacon I usually soak it in cold water for a bit so its not too salty then bung in the SC and drizzle some flat coke over it and cook until I can run my knife through it on low.Take it out and when cold it slices beautifully and once sliced I freeze some of it wrapped in foil and eat what I want .

Bitsy_Beans

I have stopped buying pre packaged ham as I was sick of the bits of bone <retches>
I buy a gammon joint, bring it to the boil in cold water and boil for 10 mins. Drain liquid and then cook in a tiny bit of water in SC all day. I bought a half price slicer from Argos which is fab for cutting the meat really thin. I then freeze the excess for future weeks, always tastes fine to me

crux

Thanks for the replies! I found a few instructions for doing the whole thing from scratch, but using a gammon joint is obviously much simpler, far quicker and probably cheaper too!

I'm off to Mr T's after work :rotfl:

rachbc

I boil til cooked (30 mins for 500g) then glaze with a bit of brown sugar and mustard then whack in a hot oven til golden. I slice it thinly and pack in a tupperware in the fridge as I once ound ds cutting cm thick slices!

loocyloo

i find it easier to freeze the slices in amounts i will use each day, as otherwise i find it seems to go off much faster than when freshly cooked and just put in the fridge. i put it in the sandwiches frozen and its just right by lunchtime!

Fruball

I do this now too - I buy Mr T 3 joints for £10... soak if i have time, then boil or do in SC.

Apparently if you cook it in cola... yes really... it gives a really lovely glaze but I haven't tried that... yet... i intend to!

Its sooooo much cheaper and as someone else said, you end up with posh deli ham for <retch> gristly ham

triticale

crux wrote: »

Does anyone cook their own ham?

I assume you need to cook a fair sized piece to make it worth while?

As this would be only for me I don't want it to go to waste if I can't eat it all in a few days.

Does anyone freeze cooked ham and if so does it still taste good after defrosting?

Any guidance appreciated.

I usually buy a small (£2-£3) one of these from Mr S's: http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/groceries/index.jsp?bmUID=1289477645121 and just bake it covered in foil in the oven for 45 mins - an hour, foil off for last 20 mins or so. Leave to cool then de-fat/gristle and slice thinly with my good knife (would love Father Christmas to bring a meat slicer though! ). I will use it for a couple of days and then freeze any that's left.

It always tastes fine to me once defrosted, just pop into the fridge overnight.

I did get a joint labelled 'cured pork loin' from Lidl the other week, much leaner than the sains ones (as it is essentially a block of the main bit of back bacon) but quite salty. I don't mind this though, it was lovely in a seeded bap with egg mayo.

So basically, no reason you can't do just a small joint. A proper sized gammon joint would just be too much for me and my miniscule freezer! :rotfl:

JulieGeorgiana

Um... this meat slicer everyone mentioned??? What is it???

theladsmum

Frugal wrote: »

I do this now too - I buy Mr T 3 joints for £10... soak if i have time, then boil or do in SC.

Apparently if you cook it in cola... yes really... it gives a really lovely glaze but I haven't tried that... yet... i intend to!

Its sooooo much cheaper and as someone else said, you end up with posh deli ham for <retch> gristly ham

Cooked in cola is delicious, apparently cherry cola even more so but I haven't tried that yet.

Also done it in apple juice, which I prefer to the cola version.