Nigella's Ham in Coke-what ham?
What kind of ham have people used? She says a mild cure. I need more specific direction. Cook's illustrated uses a fresh ham for their version, but it seems like Nigella uses a cured one. Partially cooked? Fully cooked? She lists a 5-6 lb. boneless ham for the Ham in Cherry Coke in FEAST, and many web sources list the English "gammon joint" - which sounds bone-in to me. Anybody? Brand names, hints and success (failure) stories welcome.
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9 Comments:
I found this tidbit from channel4.com's printup of her original (Coca Cola Classic) ham:
"When the ham's had its time (and ham it is now it's cooked, though it's true Americans call it ham from its uncooked state) "
Sounds like fresh ham to me.
Here's the link if you want to compare/contrast:
http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/nigella-lawson/ham-in-coca-cola-recipe_p_1.html
renzata at 7:40PM on 12/13/08
Thanks for the link, but she also states a "mild cure" and gives direction should one have a "salty" piece...fresh ham as we know it should have neither and is just a cut of pork leg, I believe.
nantaylor at 11:00AM on 12/14/08
IMHO I think the pork in question would have to be a smoked ham. I for one cannot imagine putting sugar and cloves on a fresh ham.You could go with either a bone in ham or a boneless one,the bone in ham being more traditional,and if you like,you could always use the ham bone to make some killer split pea soup.The ham wouldn't have to be fully cooked,as you're going to cook it further with the coke and all.
onepercent99 at 11:45AM on 12/14/08
I've never made it (don't care for sweet ham preps), but she says "mild cure" -- that means cured. There's no question about that. Specifying mild suggests that she's recommending that's not very salty (e.g., not Virginia ham), and not too smoky-tasting (or probably not smoked at all).
Gammon joint is just another term for ham.
If she herself has recommended a boneless one, then that's what you should use. If it's not specified, I'd use one with a bone. The meat texture is almost always superior, the bone imparts flavor to the meat, and when the ham's all gone, you have a nice bone for soup as @onepct pointed out.
I don't think it matters whether it's fully cooked or not, but you might have slightly better texture with an uncooked or partially cooked one.
LoCo at 11:58AM on 12/14/08
I caught the tail end of a Nigella ep last year and she had already prepared a huge ham and was breaking off a piece to snack on. I have never seen a ham that looked tastier and I also wondered the specifics. I don't remember much these days, but I can picture that ham like it's on the table in front of me. It looked that good. I wanted it then and I want it now! As long as it isn't too salty. ;-)
PerkyMac at 2:40PM on 12/14/08
I'm going to look for an uncooked cured bone-in. Her other recipe for ham in coke from another book calls for the bone. sounds better. thanks all, and if anyone has any comments from making it, I'd love to hear them. I'm going to make it for christmas, so I have time to think about it.
nantaylor at 6:00PM on 12/14/08
me again......i would buy a bone in ham.Either a shank portion or a butt portion.That's the most common 2 peices of ham sold in the store.It won't say "uncooked" if it's not fully cooked,but it will say fully cooked if it is.Nigella says after boiling the ham and cooling it a bit,to cut all the skin off it.My mom used to leave the skin on,score it and stick it with cloves and then bake it till the skin was all nice and crispy.Any questions feel free to email me @ onepercent99@hotmail.com. Good Luck !!!
onepercent99 at 6:37PM on 12/14/08
I make this ham every Easter and everyone loves it. The information I received (orginally) was that she was using a fresh, uncured ham, that my butcher said would taste more like pork loin then the ham I'm used to having. I use a bone in, partially cooked (cured) ham (usually Cook' s) and it works just fine. I utilize the temperature and cooking time on the package, but use her temperature (500) for the end stage. Also, I cook mine in the oven using a large black roasting pan with lid and I add more regular Coke if the ham is exceptionally large. (I made my first one on the stove top and the condensation dripped all over the place) I saw that someone mentioned Cherry Coke, but my recipe from the 'Trashy' section of her first American cookbook calls for Coke, an onion, cloves, molasses, mustard powder and demerera sugar. (I recommend Colman's mustard powder of you can find it)
cookiegrl13 at 3:55PM on 12/15/08
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was fabulous. I used Cherry Coke but made the molasses glaze from the original recipe. I didnt realize the glaze had been reworked and I didnt feel like running back out to the store. I used a bone in ham... I cant remember whether it was fresh or partially cooked.
I'm makng it again for Christmas dinner. This is the site I foud the recipe:http://cakesandthings.blogspot.com/2008/01/ham-in-cherry-coke.html
I also remember seeing a site somewhere that recipes for ham in Vanilla Coke and Ginger Ale
Mellifera at 8:07AM on 12/23/08