HAM, BACON & GAMMON

 HAM, BACON & GAMMON

HAM (Jambon)

                            Ham is always the hind leg of pork and is cut rather long into the loin to give a BANJO shape. Because of the popularity of cured pork, the term has become synonymous in many instances with the cured and often smoked preparations of the leg. Salt is always the main curing agent.

                        However, today nitrites, both sodium and potassium based, play an important role. Once cured. hams may or may not be smoked, depending on the varieties. There are both cooked and uncooked types of hams.

                          Hams in the 12-14 size range are considered the most tender. As with sausage, the variety of hams is virtually limitless. There are at least 100 different traditional styles of preparation. These differ mainly in flavoring and cure recipes involved. The basic techniques, however, are normally the same.

Ham can be dry-cured or wet-cured.

Dry - A dry-cured ham has been rubbed in a mixture containing salt and a variety of other ingredients (usually sodium nitrate and nitrite).

This is followed by a varying period of drying and aging, Dry-cured hams may require a period of re-hydration prior to consumption.

Some ham curing methods begin with the ham being wet but are followed by dry aging.

Wet - A wet-cured ham has been cured with a brine, either by immersion or injection. The curing solution typically contain salt, sodium nitrate, smoke flavoring as well as other additives. Wet cured hams typically are sold packaged with their curing brine.

              Wet cured ham is often commonly sold in tins or 'cans' for preservation.

STORAGE

The un dried varieties of ham have a refrigerated shelf life of eight days. The fine texture of ham is adversely affected by freezing. Hold at the temperatures recommended for fresh meats.

Bacon

                Bacon is a cutof meat taken Trom the sides, belly, or back of a pig. then cured, smoked, or both.

Cuts of bacon

Streaky bacon comes from the belly of a pig. It is very fatty with long veins of fat running parallel to the rind. Pancetta is Italian streaky bacon, smoked or green (unsmoked), with a strong flavor.

Back bacon comes from the loin in the middle of the back of the pig. It is a lean meaty cut of bacon, with relatively less fat compared to other cuts and has a ham-like texture and flavour. Also called Irish bacon or Canadian Bacon.

Middle bacon is much like back bacon but is cheaper and somewhat fattier, with a richer flavor.

Cottage bacon is thinly sliced lean pork meat from a shoulder cut that is typically oval shaped and meaty. It is cured and then sliced into round pieces for baking or frying.

Jowl bacon is cured and smoked cheeks of pork.

VARIETIES OF BACON

Sliced bacon is from the hog bellies, which have been squared off. They are cured and most often smoked: sliced thin, and then packaged for retail sale.

Slab bacon is the unsliced version of sliced bacon. It has a longer shelf life. 

Country-cured bacon has a salty. very strong flavour. It is more expensive than slab bacon.

Canadian bacon is processed in the same manner as slab bacon, except it is made from the eye of the lion. It is fully smoked at the time of sale. This product is more like ham than bacon, and is very lean.

Pea meal bacon is a form of Canadian bacon that is not smoked. After curing it is dried briefly and coated with yellow cornmeal.

Schinkenspeck (ham-bacon) is a German preparation, processed like bacon. However, it is comprised of a combination of pork leg meat rolled inside a pork belly; tied, and processed.

STORAGE - Smoked bacon has a refrigerated shelf life of many months. Surface mold which forms during storage may be cut away and the rest of the bacon used, as long as it has not turned rancid. Canadian bacon is much more perishable, having a refrigerated shelf life of only four days.

SPECIALTY ITEMS

- The products listed in this section, although closely related to some of the groups already discussed, and those products associated most closely with the art and science of charcuterie

Zampone is a northern Italian, Modena region, fresh pork sausage is highly seasoned and casing is the boned leg section of the skin with the foot attached. It is traditionally served with the lentils on New Year's Day.

Tete Presse is cured, boneless, rolled or pressed pigs head It is poached and served with vinaigrette and thinly sliced onions.

Head cheese is a loaf product made from a pig's head tongues include It is cured and simmered in a gelatinous stock for about three hours. The meat is  then removed from the head, diced and molded with the broth in which it was cooked.

Sulze is a German product very similar to headcheese. The difference is that it is made from the meat of a calf's or pig's feet. This meat is combined with chopped pickles and vegetables in a tart flavoured meat aspic.

Jamboneaux  is cured ham shank, which is fully cooked, in a rich stock. The large shank bone is removed, leaving the small one in place. The skin is removed, scraped clean of excess fat, and returned to the original position. The shank is wrapped in cheesecloth, rolled into a pear shape, and returned to the stock to cool. When cooled the cheesecloth is removed. The meat is rubbed with rendered pork fat, and finally rolled in fine breadcrumbs.

Rillete is essential cooked pork spread Boneless pork shoulder, with the fat. is cubed. It is then braised slowly with paté-type seasonings and onions. No liquid is added and the meat is cooked until it falls apart. The meat is then shredded into coarse fibers or crushed in a mortar. This mixture is packed into clean crockery or earthenware terrine and the rendered fat is strained over the top to seal it. Rillete will keep several months sealed in this manner and refrigerated.

It is important to clarify the difference between bacon, gammon and ham.

● Bacon is cured meat that is still considered raw and in need of cooking. It can be either thinly sliced meat from the loin (back) or belly, or can be an entire side of cured The side of pork may or may not have the hind legs removed before curing. When destined to become a side of bacon, a pig will have its head then be split in half down its backbone: 

● Gammon, like is cured meat that is still considered raw and in need of cooking. It can refer to the hind leg that was removed from a side of bacon after curing, or it can small cuts of meat taken from that leg after it is removed. A whole gammon leg weighs up to 22 pounds (10 kg), making it tricky to cook in a home oven. Gammon is usually milder in flavour than bacon or ham owing to more delicate cures being used:

● Ham, like gammon, comes from the hind leg of the peg. It is also cured, but either more slowly or through air-drying. The cures are usually more elaborate than those used for bacon or gammon.

Gammon

                     Gammon is meat cut from the lower hind of a hog that is usually smoked or cured A gammon is always the hind leg of a side bacon.

Both ham and gammon are cut from the leg of a pig. The ineat is the same but the

preparation and treatment is different. Ham and gammon are both cured meats.

Ham is meat that is cut from the carcass and then treated.

Gammon is meat that is cut from the carcass after the brining treatment.

The best known gammon types are Danish (green and smoked) and Wiltshire Green and smoked)