Not much to say about this one, but I had to snap the most perfect and symmetrical poached egg I’ve ever done!
(For those that aren’t aware, eggs benedict is a poached egg (3 minutes for me), with smoked ham, a toasted muffin and Hollandaise sauce).
Category: ham
I had a bleedin’ horrible commute home from Enfield on Friday, involving miles of tailbacks, a blown tyre and crazed BMW drivers. So imagine my relief to see this pie waiting for me when I get home.
It’s taken from the pages of this month’s delicious magazine, involving chunks of salty gammon and rich cider in a creamy liquor, topped with browned and fluffy mash with a hint of mustard heat. Just the job.
Gammon, leek and cider pie:
1kg gammon joint
1 onion, diced
2 leeks, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
4 tablespoons flour
500ml cider
For the mustard mash top:
8 tablespoons creme fraiche
1kg potatoes
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
- Boil the gammon joint for 2 – 3 hours until tender. You may wish to add aromatics to the water to lend extra notes; an onion, a couple of carrots, a bay leaf, some juniper – whatever is to hand. Remove the meat from the water and cut into chunks. Save some of the water for the next step.
- Fry the leeks, thyme, onion and carrots until softened and add the flour. Add the gammon, cider, 300ml gammon water and bring to the boil. When simmering add half the creme fraiche and season. Allow to simmer for ten minutes.
- Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water and drain, then mash with the remaining creme fraiche and mustard. You may wish to add a little milk and/or butter to loosen it up.
- Pour the sauce into an ovenproof dish, top with mash and bake in a 180C oven for 25 minutes.
The ham was ready. Now for smoking.
I took the idea from various recipes to put it on to the BBQ and cover it over, providing a crude smoker. I was able to use some Apple Wood Chips from Colorado thanks to my good friend Dominic.
I was continually prodding it with my probe thermometer, waiting for the magic 76C to appear. This took about two and a bit hours with my small piece of meat. The window cleaner looked at me very strangely, playing with the BBQ in late December.
This piece was actually too strong, too briny. I tasted a piece and stamped the floor like a Tex Avery cartoon. I soaked it a little but it went too far. However I prepared a second joint the same way and that was very tasty indeed.
The photos make it look more pink than it did in real life – I didn’t add saltpetre (nitrite) to the mix, which encourages that rosiness.
Wow, how exciting is that title?! You’re desperate to read on, aren’t you.
I wanted to make my own ham. I think all these home preserving techniques are getting lost, and the results you get are so unique and personal compared to vacuum-wrapped plasticky salt logs.
I’ve started here with pork leg, very inexpensive. I then made an 85% brine solution and added juniper berries, peppercorns, bay leaves and a couple of cloves. But these could be any number of aromatic things. Now I’m leaving the pork submerged in this liquid for a day and a half per pound (that’s four and a half days for me). See you on Saturday for the results!