A large gammon joint, glazed with honey and mustard and bejeweled with cloves is a thing of beauty – a classic, traditional British feast. Our gammon comes from Sandridge Farmhouse, and is tender, succulent and full of flavour. Each gammon joint is brined in a Wiltshire Cure for at least three days before being allowed to rest for up to two weeks (the only Wiltshire based farm to still use this famous method). The smoked gammons are smoked over oak and beech sawdust for at least two days, giving the gammons a lovely golden colour and delicious, gentle, smoky flavour.
We sell the smaller slipper joints in the shop all year round, but if you are catering for a larger number, then you need to pre-order. We have available whole gammons (up to 9kgs) either on or off the bone, and we then cut these gammons to size for you, so that you can have any weight from 2-9kgs.
They are superb value – far cheaper than the standard supermarket fare – with the unsmoked gammons at £8.50/kg and the smoked at £9.50/kg.
Described as “The finest British cured pork” according to Tom Parker-Bowles the pigs are bred on the farm by the Keen family who have farmed in Wiltshire for many generations. Following in his father’s footsteps Roger Keen grows mostly grain on just over 300 acres, this grain together with the left over portion of milk from cheese-making, and apples from cider-making provides a natural diet free of artificial hormones, growth promoters or routine antibiotic feed additives, which is fed to the herd of 350 sows and young. Their pigs are mostly large White and Landrace breeds, which they cross with older breeds such as Gloucester Old Spot, Saddleback and Duroc, to get the best quality pork.
Here is a recipe to best enjoy your gammon:
We have two slightly differing gammon recipes to make the perfect ham. This is the ideal food for catering for large numbers, being delicious, cheap and easy. Before you cook it, you can soak your gammon overnight in cold water to reduce the saltiness, or if you are in a hurray, place the gammon in cold water, bring it to the boil and then discard the water. However, our Sandridge gammons are not that salty, so you can avoid soaking if you so wish.
Estimated cooking time:
If going by timing rather than temperature, the rule of thumb should be approx 40 minutes per Kilo (20 minutes a pound). If over 5Kg (10lb) in weight reduce to between 30 and 35 minutes per Kilo (15 -17 minutes a pound). If under 2kg increase to 60 minutes a Kilo (30 mins a pound).
Please note that we recommend using a thermometer as it guarantees that meats do not get over cooked / under cooked and temperature guides are only recommendations
Method 1:
Boiled and roasted
If your ham is a large portion or a whole ham, place while vacuum packed into gently boiling water. (Leaving the ham in the vac pack seals in a lot of the flavor and prevents the ham from becoming crumbly).
(Warning only to be done at gentle boil, not at a full Boil)
When the bag starts to loosen around the meat (this should be half way through your calculated cooking time), lower heat to a rolling boil. Remove from the vac pack and place into the same water.
(a carrot, onion, celery, bay leaf can be added to water to flavor cooking water)
Continue to boil until the center of the ham reaches 68 degrees C then turn off the heat and leave the ham in the water for up to 1 hour until the temperature reaches 71 degrees. Your ham is now cooked!!
Peel the skin from the ham, leaving the fat layer intact. An option is to score (cut) the fat layer in a criss-cross pattern to create diamond shapes in the fat.
Coat the ham with the glaze of your choice! Glazes can be as easy as mixing whole grain mustard to honey (50:50) adding caster sugar / brown sugar to glaze can help it to stick to the ham better
Another option is to insert cloves. Stick a clove in each of the diamond shapes on the fat layer of the ham. A clove can be added into the centre of each cut diamond!
Pre-heat oven to 160 degree’s C and roast for further 35 min average to reheat prior to meal!
Remove the cooked ham from the oven and allow the ham to rest for ten to fifteen minutes.
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Method 2:
Steep and Roast
Place ham in pot of cold water and slowly bring to the boil. Or alternatively soak with cold water in a container big enough (sink / bucket) for average of an hour up to several hours if a whole ham.
Remove and dry, your ham is now ready for roasting.
Score as above and place cloves in center of diamonds
Preheat oven to 180 degrees
Roast until centre of ham reaches 68 degrees then turn off heat of oven and rest until internal temp is 71 degrees ( applies to whole / 1/2 ham, internal temperature of 71 degrees means cooked !)
The slower you cook your ham the more tender it will be. This does not mean over-cook as a ham will become flaky and dry!
Remove the cooked ham from the oven and allow the ham to rest for ten to fifteen minutes.