by Di Johnson

Created on: May 19, 2008   Last Updated: May 13, 2011

Soup, quiche, bean feast, it can be used in all to great and tasty effect. My favourite is simply used whilst still hot as ham and eggs with spicy beans on the side and the remains used for ham salad rolls with mustard and the very last remains for homemade pea and ham soup. What a marvellous list of potential uses for the humble ham. Cost it out against sliced cooked ham or bacon from the butcher and you recoup about three times the cost!

Ham is the most wonderfully flavoursome and adaptable meat you can use in the kitchen. It will help provide a single person or a family with the basis for many meals from breakfast through to the evening meal.

Here's a simple approach to cooking ham.

Choose your ham carefully. A joint from a good butcher purchasing local free range is often a guarantee of quality and traceability.

Choose from the cheap end of a joint which is the hock whether it be the hock (trotter end), or the upper end gammon joint.

Rinse the ham and soak for several hours or overnight in plenty of water, keep refrigerated. I use the pan I'm going to boil it in to save washing up.

Discard water, fill a pan large enough to hold ham without it being a tight fit and cover with water. Ensure joint is submerged. Add to this a couple of sticks of celery, 2 or 3 bay leaves, 1 or 2 small onions and 2 or 3 medium sized carrots. Pop the lid on and place onto the hob. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer gently.Check the internal temperature of the joint with a thermometer if you have one. Do this every half hour or so for hock joints or after the first hour for larger pieces. When the temperature reaches over 75 degrees Centigrade turn off the heat. If you do not have a thermometer boil for 25 minutes for each half a kilo of weight for each individual piece. (About 20 minutes to the pound in Imperial). When the required temperature has been reached gently lift the ham from the water avoiding splashing yourself (it is hot) and place onto a roast pan. Discard the cooking water. I know this sounds wasteful, but it really is very salty and I find it unpalatable. You could try it and see if you could make use of it but I don't recommend it.

Cover the ham loosely in baking parchment and cook in a very slow oven for about an hour or an hour and a half if the joint is large. This method allows the ham to cook slowly and gently, giving a finish that is fork tender and tasty without being wet. Slice what you need for immediate use and eat hot with new potatoes and vegetables, or as ham and eggs, or warm ham rolls, whatever you fancy. Delicious! Be warned that your family may take to tearing off bits and pieces as the remains cool making your economic buy for 2 or three meals less cost effective!

Once the remains of the ham have cooled chill down in the refrigerator.

Hams are not easy to freeze domestically due to their high salt content and it is difficult to judge if they have frozen right to the salty centre of the joint. Instead of freezing I recommend that the ham is chilled and eaten within 3 or 4 days. Using it up in this time span really isn't an issue, unless you go away for a holiday as it has no chance of being there after the second day!

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