Which joint to buy for sliced ham?

twofishes

I never thought of using a joint for sliced ham - great idea, thanks!

meritaten

I actually do the freezing meat in slices with all meats which are left over. I don't always bother to defrost them either - for example taking sandwiches to the beach - by the time we want to eat them they have defrosted themselves!

maman

meritaten wrote: »

yes - it freezes beautifully! I pack a sandwich worth between squares of baking parchment, put a stack in a freezer bag. take out whatever I need - and it takes about a minute on defrost in microwave.

Works just as well with foil which I reuse whenever possible.

debbym

I tend to use pork joints rather than gammon - more expensive but tastes better IMO - look out for the joints that have been reduced midweek (there are usually some reduced for quick sale most people want a roast dinner at the weekend).
I buy and freeze them as I see them on offer; pork loin for preference as this hold together better most typical general roasting joints; although I sometimes get beef or lamb joints as well. Roast them when I am doing a batch bake of cookies or muffins for the kids lunchboxes ready to go in the freezer so fuel is basically free. I find if I do it in the slowcooker they fall to pieces rather than slice. Chill before slicing.
I have a proper slicer similar to one you would find in a deli which cost me £40 (should have been £140); I bought it from Amazon in the kitchen sale this new year and it has paid for itself within 2 months. I slice up the meat and package into 100g bags- I have got a kilo of sandwich meat for about £6 before now so definitely worth the effort.

bizzylizzy

So I have cooked a gammon joint in the slowcooker (on it's own) and it is now in the fridge overnight, I will slice and freeze it in portions tomorrow. There is a lot of liquid from cooking it, I have poured this in a bowl and it's also in the fridge. I assume some of it will be fat. Any ideas what to use it all for?

EstherH

Hi, yes, stock for soup. The fat will settle on the top when it's gone cold, so take that off and what is left underneath use as the base for a soup. Pea and ham, or lentil and tomato maybe? HTH. Esther x

bizzylizzy

Thank you, will the fat be of any use?