{"id":35519,"date":"2015-12-16T11:23:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T11:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/?p=35519"},"modified":"2017-01-16T11:51:17","modified_gmt":"2017-01-16T11:51:17","slug":"blueberry-chipotle-gammon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/blueberry-chipotle-gammon\/","title":{"rendered":"BLUEBERRY CHIPOTLE GAMMON"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!
\nOh what fun it is to stuff my face full of gammon every day, hey!<\/p>\n

Okay, that\u2019s not how the original goes but in my humble opinion, it should be. Yes folks, gammon season has officially opened! I am excited, can you tell? I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever used so many exclamation marks in one paragraph! But it\u2019s okay, because GAMMON!<\/p>\n

Welcome to our festive edition of Meet the Meat and as you\u2019ve probably guessed, we\u2019re cooking gammon. Gammon is without a doubt my favourite holiday meat and it\u2019s up there in my top three of all meaty treats ever. It\u2019s just a big ol\u2019 hunk of holiday love and it never really feels like silly season has started until you\u2019ve had that first salty and sweet bite of porky nirvana. Okay, okay enough about all that, let\u2019s get to the cut and what makes it so special.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gammon comes from the upper hind leg of a porker and it\u2019s first cured and then smoked. This process is what gives gammon it\u2019s incredible flavour. It\u2019s the same process that\u2019s used to make bacon. Bacon… let that sink in. It comes in two varieties, bone-in and boneless, what you choose is really up to you. The bone-in cuts tend to be bigger but the boneless are a lot easier to deal with when it comes to carving. The boneless are typically wrapped in a elastic fishnet sock to amp up its already sexy appeal and to keep the meat together during cooking. I\u2019ve decided to go with a boneless variety for my feast.<\/p>\n

Cooking a gammon is really easy but it does take time. You can choose to either roast it or boil it before the final glazing, I\u2019ve gone with the boiling option. Something to keep in mind when you\u2019re picking out your gammon is this: your inner piggy might steer you to pick a gammon that would sait even mighty Thor\u2019s appetite, but remember, you need a big enough pot to fully submerge it. As a rule of thumb, a two kilogram gammon is a good size for six people.<\/p>\n

So now that we\u2019ve got all that out of the way, it\u2019s time to cook. You can boil your gammon in anything from water to ginger beer, but I\u2019ve decided to go the Coke route, made famous by kitchen siren, Nigella. Coke is full of sugar for a sweet finish and gives the gammon a rich dark colour. To that I\u2019ve added a couple of vegetables and spices to create an aromatic cooking broth. If you use water for your stock, you can use it afterwards to make soups or sauces \u2013 it will be full of gammony flavour. The gammon will simmer gently in the broth until it\u2019s ready for glazing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Speaking of glazing, there are many options and some, like honey and mustard, are very traditional. I\u2019ve made a few gammon in my day, so for this year\u2019s offering I\u2019ve decided to push the porky barge out a bit. I\u2019ve gone with a blueberry jam as a base and spiked it with the sultry, smokey heat of chipotle chillies (smoked, dried jalapenos). If you\u2019ve ever read any of my previous recipes you\u2019ll know I\u2019m a big fan of chipotle chillies. I\u2019ve been using them for quite a while now and you could say I am a bit of a chipotle hipster. I was sourcing them way before they became easily available \u2013 yes, I am that cool.<\/p>\n

So, we\u2019ve got our broth and our glaze, all that\u2019s left to do is to get the piggy ready for the party. Once your gammon is out of the pot and cooled it\u2019s time to dress it. Start by snipping off it\u2019s stocking and discarding. Next you\u2019ll need to remove the skin. During boiling the skin goes tough and rubbery and I\u2019ve yet to find a use for it other than dog treats. Next, you\u2019ll need to score the fat layer before applying the glaze.<\/p>\n

The fat can be quite delicate, so apply the glaze with care and try to get it into the score marks. At this point it is perfectly acceptable to stand back and marvel at your soon to be masterpiece. Lastly pop that sucker into the oven and if you\u2019re like me, you\u2019ll take a seat on the ground in front of the oven and watch that glaze caramelise. Oh sweet gammon, how do I love thee? Let me count the bites…<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>\n

Blueberry Chipotle Gammon
\n<\/strong>Serves: 6-8
\nDifficulty: easy
\nPrep time: 20 minutes
\nCooking time: 2 hour 15 minutes<\/p>\n

The Gammon
\n<\/strong>2 kg smoked, uncooked gammon
\n1 red onion, quartered
\n2 carrots, roughly chopped
\n2 bay leaves
\n1 cinnamon stick
\n10 peppercorns
\n4 pieces of lemon peel
\n2.5 litres Coke (the real one, not diet)<\/p>\n

The Glaze
\n<\/strong>a splash of oil
\n\u00bd tsp (2.5 ml) butter
\n\u00bc C red onion, chopped
\n1 garlic clove, finely chopped
\n1 C blueberry jam (I used St. Dalfour)
\n1-2 tsp (5-10 ml) chipotle paste (or 1 whole dried chipotle, reconstituted and chopped)
\n1 Tbsp (15 ml) balsamic
\n1 Tbsp (15 ml) Dijon mustard
\n1 Tbsp (15 ml) honey<\/p>\n

To Serve
\n<\/strong>fresh blueberries
\nfresh cherries<\/p>\n

The Gammon
\n<\/strong>Place the gammon in a large saucepan, add the rest of the ingredients and then pour in the Coke. The gammon must be submerged in the liquid. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 hours \u2013 the rule is 30 minutes per 500 g meat. If any foamy scum collects at the top of the pot just skim it off with a spoon. Top up with more Coke as needed.<\/p>\n

Remove the gammon from the saucepan and and let it cool slightly. Set the oven to 220 \u00baC.<\/p>\n

Cut the netting off and discard. Run a sharp knife under the skin, but be sure to leave a layer of fat (leave your prefered amount). Gently peel away the skin and either discard or cut up as treats for your furry friend. Score the fat with lines, or if you\u2019re feeling retro, you can do a diamond pattern.<\/p>\n

The Glaze
\n<\/strong>In a small saucepan over a moderate heat, heat the oil and butter. Add the onion and cook until it has softened. Add the garlic and fry for a minute until fragrant. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes while stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely.<\/p>\n

Place the gammon on a roasting rack and paint it with a generous amount of glaze. Bake the gammon for 15 minutes, then give it another painting of glaze and bake for a further 15 more minutes until the outside has caramelised. Remove from the oven and let the gammon rest for 10 minutes. Carve, serve and devour.<\/p>\n

See other recipes in the Meet the Meat series<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>
<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to stuff my face full of gammon every day, hey! Okay, that\u2019s not how the original goes but in my humble opinion, it should be. Yes folks, gammon season has officially opened! I am excited, can you tell? I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever used so many exclamation marks in one paragraph! But it\u2019s okay, because GAMMON! Welcome to our festive edition of Meet the Meat and as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4582,4098],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brand-page","category-general"],"acf":[],"brand_slug":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35519\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}