How to Cook a Gammon

The Home Butchers Irish Gammon Joint offers a succulent, traditional roast full of flavour.

For a traditional Irish Sunday dinner (North and South of the border), gammon joints are usually boiled and will bring a taste of home when cooked this way. There are other methods to cook your ham including boiling first before baking or just roasting completely.

Make sure that the gammon joint is cooked to perfection and follow our cooking and preparation guidelines with all 3 methods for roasting and boiling included:

These instructions are for our 4lb traditional gammon joint.

Preparation suggestions: 

1. Score the fat with a diamond pattern and coat the whole of the outside of the Gammon joint with a homemade Honey and mustard glaze. Wrap in a large piece of aluminium foil and place in a roasting tin. Make sure that the foil keeps juices around the joint for flavour.
2. You can also try other flavours to glaze gammon, some of our favourites are ginger preserve for a spicy warm flavour or maple syrup for a sweeter glazed ham.

Cooking guidelines:

Method 1 - How to Boil a Gammon: 

• Irish Gammon Joints should be boiled for 30 minutes per lb. Our Gammon Joints are all approximately 4lb in weight so cook for a minimum time of 2 hours.
• If your joint is salted or smoked we recommend soaking the gammon overnight in water to remove some of the saltiness.
• Start by placing your gammon joint in a large pan and cover with cold water. Add some carrots, onions, celery, bay leaves and peppercorns to broth for taste.
• Next bring to the boil in the pan and leave to simmer for your calculator cooking time.
• Remove the gammon from the broth and cover with foil and a cloth for at least 20 minutes.
• After it’s been left to rest for 20 minutes, remove the outer skin and fat then carve ready to eat!
• Top tip - keep the broth from boiling as a delicious base for making soup.

Method 2 - How to Boil and Roast a Gammon:

• Irish Gammon Joints should be cooked for 30 minutes per lb. Our Gammon Joints are all approximately 4lb in weight so cook for a minimum time of 2 hours.
• To boil first, add your joint to a large pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil in the pan adding any flavours and spices to the broth as you wish. We recommend adding carrots, onions, celery, bay leaves ,peppercorns and cloves.
• Boil the joint for half the calculated cooking time, spoon away any white froth that comes to the surface of the water.
• Next preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Removing the joint from the pan water, take off the first layer of skin leaving just a thin layer of fat.
• Transfer the meat into a tin foil lined roasting tray and add a glaze of your choice.
• Cover with the foil and cook for the remaining time, check every 30 minutes and collect juices to pour over the top of the joint.
• Remove from the oven, allow to sit for 10 minutes before carving into slices.
• Top tip - keep the broth from boiling as a delicious base for making soup or to pour over a small amount while roasting.

Method 3 - How to Roast a Gammon:

• Irish Gammon Joints should be roasted for 30 minutes per lb. Our Gammon Joints are all approximately 4lb in weight so cook for a minimum time of 2 hours.
• Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
• Place the joint on the roasting tin and onto the middle shelf in the oven.
• Cook for 2 hours, check every 30 minutes and collect juices to pour over the top of the joint.
• Remove from oven and stand for 10 minutes and carve into slices