Experience gammon in a completely new way
The great thing about gammon is that it is an incredibly versatile meat, and one that most people enjoy. However, many people have restricted themselves in the way that they cook it. For most people, it will either be boiled or roasted.
Whilst there is nothing wrong with this and the results will still be delicious, there are so many other ways that you can cook gammon that will give you different results. One of the tastiest ways to cook a gammon joint is in a slow cooker.
Slow cookers are fantastic, because they allow you to create the most tender meat you will have ever tasted. However, many people are not even aware that you can cook things like gammon joints in a slow cooker. Here are the steps that you will need to take to get the most tender gammon joint ever.
Step 1. Prepare your gammon joint
This is probably the most important step that you will take when it comes to cooking any meat in a slow cooker. First of all, it is a good idea to trim any fat that you don’t want on the joint.
Alternatively, if you want to keep the fat on for flavour, then you can score it in a diagonal pattern so that the meat will soak up the flavour during the cooking process, and then remove the excess fat once it is cooked.
There are a number of different things that you can do in order to prepare your gammon joint, it all depends on the flavour that you are trying to achieve. Many people like flavours such as honey and mustard. Even cloves can work well with gammon.
The best idea is to take a look at some recipes for cooking gammon online and see if any of them appeal to you. Once you have found a recipe that you like, you can then prepare the joint for cooking.
Step 2. Add your liquid
Whilst it is possible to cook a gammon joint in a slow cooker without adding any liquid, it is generally a better idea to do so, or you are likely to end up with meat that is dry and tasteless.
You can add water with herbs and spices in it, or even just plain water. One thing that a lot of people have tried and loved is cooking a gammon joint in cola. It produces a sweet taste to the gammon which many people enjoy. Again, this step all comes down to personal taste.
Step 3. Set the temperature on your slow cooker
Setting the temperature is very straight forward. Most slow cookers will have settings for high, low, and warm. The setting that you choose all depends on how much time you have to cook.
If you are short on time and need to get the gammon joint cooked quite quickly, then you should set it to a high temperature. Within roughly 4 hours, you should be nearly there with the cooking process.
If you have more time to spare and you intend on cooking your gammon joint overnight, then you can set it on a low temperature. The good thing about this is that it makes the meat fall apart once the cooking process has finished. The warm temperature is simply to keep the food warm until you are ready to serve.
Some tips for cooking a gammon joint in your slow cooker
- Around half way through the cooking process, it is a good idea to turn the gammon joint over. This is so that you can make sure that it is cooked evenly throughout and that the flavours reach every part of the meat.
- When it comes to cooking any joints of meat in a slow cooker, it is a good idea to keep them quite small. If you choose a joint that is too big then you are going to find that it takes a lot longer to cook, thus using more electricity.
- Check the gammon joint regularly during the cooking process. It is important that you do this so that you can get a better idea of how long it is likely to take for the joint to cook right the way through.
By cooking your gammon joint in a slow cooker, you will achieve results like never before. There is nothing wrong with cooking gammon using traditional methods, but the slow cooker really does bring something different to the table.
Give it a try with your slow cooker today, you will probably find that you are very pleased with the results in both texture and flavour.
How long would you cook a 2.17k joint for in a slow cooker?