Gammon joint slow cooker

[mutantpoodle]

Am I too Late??

I am going to try a gammon joint in the slow cooker this christmas
in Iron Bru

I can see many recipies with various juices/etc
and I can see that it might take 8 hours on 'low' or maybe 4 hours on high

but none tell me if the slow cooker should be hot when putting meat etc in...???
and should the iron Bru be cold?

(not sure I like the idea of hot iron bru..but I am not a Scot)

any suggestions or instructions would be appreciated

and I do have a tin of mushy peas...not quite peas pud but.....

[mutantpoodle]

also on Food board but not certain how much traffic there...and I only have one day left to get sorted

so copy........

Am I too Late??

I am going to try a gammon joint in the slow cooker this christmas
in Iron Bru

I can see many recipies with various juices/etc
and I can see that it might take 8 hours on 'low' or maybe 4 hours on high

but none tell me if the slow cooker should be hot when putting meat etc in...???
and should the iron Bru be cold?

(not sure I like the idea of hot iron bru..but I am not a Scot)

any suggestions or instructions would be appreciated

and I do have a tin of mushy peas...not quite peas pud but.....

[servodude]

Am I too Late??

I am going to try a gammon joint in the slow cooker this christmas
in Iron Bru

I can see many recipies with various juices/etc
and I can see that it might take 8 hours on 'low' or maybe 4 hours on high

but none tell me if the slow cooker should be hot when putting meat etc in...???
and should the iron Bru be cold?

(not sure I like the idea of hot iron bru..but I am not a Scot)

any suggestions or instructions would be appreciated

and I do have a tin of mushy peas...not quite peas pud but.....

You can't really over cook on low
I do brown any meat in a pan if I think it will make it look better (probably not a big thing with gammon)
Other than that everything goes in at once and I turn it on
- pre heating might save 15min... but the joy of the low setting is you don't need to care

-sd

[redsturgeon]

Doesn't really matter. Put it all in cold and switch it on leave for five or six hours and it will be fine. At low temperature the margins of error are large.

John

[kempiejon]

Am I too Late??

I am going to try a gammon joint in the slow cooker this christmas
in Iron Bru

I can see many recipies with various juices/etc
and I can see that it might take 8 hours on 'low' or maybe 4 hours on high

but none tell me if the slow cooker should be hot when putting meat etc in...???
and should the iron Bru be cold?

(not sure I like the idea of hot iron bru..but I am not a Scot)

any suggestions or instructions would be appreciated

and I do have a tin of mushy peas...not quite peas pud but.....

I'd probably do low for 6-8 hours, there's a risk it might leave the joint so soft it's hard to carve/slice without "pulling" so checking at 4 or 5 hours in might be prudent. If you want it for slicing cold for sandwiches don't let the joint totally melt apart. Start cold, pop everything in all in one go at the start. I've done quite a few large pork joints, gammons etc in various mixes of fizzy pop but not Iron Bru, I don't drink it so although I'm not sure I doubt the meat would end up tasting too much like the drink. I've done regular cola, cherry cola and ginger beer and preferred the cherry. I don't think I'd do the zero sugar versions though I think that chemically aspartame or sucralose taste would spoil it.

As an extra step you could finish in the oven glazing for 30 minutes to put a sticky finish. Mustard and honey as a suggestion.

[BobbyD]

I'd start everything at room temperature.

I'd also use a meat thermometer to be more certain about when it is cooked, removing some of the guess work/averaging different internet recipes...

Cooked gammon in coke before, never irn bru...

If in doubt and timing is important I'd leave extra time. Once it's cooked as RS said you'll have a decent margin of error at those temps, and you can always take it out to rest. Harder to speed up the cooking process if you discover you are short, and worse for the dish.

[Mike4]

Doesn't really matter. Put it all in cold and switch it on leave for five or six hours and it will be fine. At low temperature the margins of error are large.

John

As the OP says they are in a hurry, it seems a pointless waste of time putting it all in cold.

I think slow cookers are only rated at 100W or 200W or so, so punching a few degrees of heat energy into the ingredients can only help speed things along. I'd warm up the Tizer (oops, Iron Bru) in a saucepan to say 60c or 70c and give the ham 10 minutes in the microwave on medium, if it will fit.

Mind you, I'm not noted for my repertoire of cheffy skills...

[mutantpoodle]

As the OP says they are in a hurry, it seems a pointless waste of time putting it all in cold.

Mind you, I'm not noted for my repertoire of cheffy skills...[/quote]

thanks Mike
your other skills have been of benefit to many, 'a strength is a strentgh'

my comment about ...'Am I too late' was in asking for help and hoping for replies before time to get on with it...so not really a hurry

will do the SLOW and it can be switched on when we go to bed tonight
so a few hours of rescue opportunity in the morning

[mutantpoodle]

just another thanks to everyone

it worked just fine
into cold slow cooker at midnight christmas eve and put on LOW
all looked very good in the morning
switched off
then at midday I switched it on HIGH for an hour or so and basted

most excellent!
not certain I could taste any 'iron bru' but meat was moist and tasty
so can def recommend

what was left is lunch/tea today!!

will certainly repeat this method

thanks again

[swill453]

not certain I could taste any 'iron bru' but meat was moist and tasty

Off topic I know, but you're using an interesting mix of the generic term for the drink "iron brew", and the brand name of the most famous version of it, Barr's "Irn Bru".

The latter is, of course, what makes Scotland one of the few countries in the world which doesn't have some kind of cola as its most popular carbonated drink.

Scott.