Use our expert cooking guide for the best roast gammon. From choosing the right size joint to the correct cooking times and temperatures, and delicious recipes to cook’s tips, we’ve got all you need to make the most of your roast.
Choose the perfect roast gammon joint
Choose the perfect roast gammon joint
Gammon comes in various sizes. Aim for 170g-200g raw gammon per person. A 750g joint will serve 4 people, and a 1kg joint will serve about 6 people.
Take your pick from our wide range of smoked or unsmoked gammon joints. For a quick roast, choose a small easy-cook maple-glazed gammon joint, which cooks in just 40 minutes.
Roast gammon cooking times & temperatures
Roast gammon COOKING times & temperatures
Oven
180°C
Fan
160°C
Gas
4
Roast for 30 minutes per 500g, plus 30 minutes extra.
Roast gammon cooking tips
Roast gammon cooking tips
Pre-soaking gammon before cooking used to be standard advice, to remove excess salt, but this is no longer necessary.
- ‘Glazing’ gammon – adding a coating – is a delicious way to pack in extra flavour. The simplest glaze is equal quantities of wholegrain mustard and demerara sugar; add some dried breadcrumbs if you want it to form more of a crust. Marmalade, redcurrant jelly, honey, chilli jam or hoisin sauce can also be used.
- As most glazes have a high sugar content, lining the roasting tin with foil helps considerably with the clean-up process and protects your tin.
A gammon joint can be cooked simply by roasting, or by a combination of boiling and roasting. If only roasting, cover the joint loosely with foil, then remove the foil 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time to allow the fat to crisp up; you can also add a glaze at this point.
If you prefer to boil and then roast, weigh the joint and calculate the total cooking time (30 minutes per 500g plus 30 minutes extra). Place it in a pan and cover completely with cold water or other liquid of your choice, adding cloves, black peppercorns or bay leaves to flavour, if liked. Bring to the boil, skimming and discarding any white froth that rises to the surface. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for half the total cooking time or until the joint has reached an internal temperature of 65ºC. Drain the joint (keep the flavoursome liquid to use instead of stock in a hearty soup), remove any bindings or rind and place in a foil-lined roasting tin. Wrap the foil around the joint and roast for the remaining cooking time; 20-30 minutes before the end of this time, unwrap the gammon, score the fat and brush with a glaze of your choice, then continue to roast uncovered.
You can boil the joint the day before glazing and serving. Cool in its stock and chill overnight; remove to a roasting tin an hour before roasting.
Roast gammon recipes
Roast gammon RECIPES
Choose from our favourite ways to enjoy roast gammon.
Keep it classic with a traditional honey-glazed gammon.
Ring the changes with sticky five-spice gammon.
Cook up a spicy barbacoa gammon with black bean & mango salsa.
Try out a Swedish Christmas favourite, Julskinka festive crumbed ham.
What flavours go with roast gammon?
What FLAVOURS go with roast gammon?
You can use all kinds of liquid to boil the gammon in before roasting, such as fruit juice, cider or cola, to infuse the meat with a variety of different flavours.
Add herbs such as bay leaves or thyme sprigs to the liquid for boiling gammon before roasting.
Experiment with different spices in the boiling liquor: cloves add a classic flavour, star anise is good if you’re using a Chinese-inspired glaze, while coriander seeds and fennel seeds combine well with orange juice.
Create a stir with these alternative pairings
Create a stir with these alternative pairings
How to check your roast gammon is cooked
How to check your roast gammon is cooked
- Use a digital meat thermometer to check that your gammon joint has reached 75ºC.
- Remember to leave the gammon joint to rest for 10-15 minutes before carving, for the juiciest meat.
What to serve with roast gammon
What to SERVE with roast gammon
A rich and creamy potatoes dauphinoise.
Cauliflower cheese goes well with gammon in the colder months, along with some orange & honey-glazed carrots and tangy sweet-sour braised red cabbage with apple.
In summer, a crunchy potato, radish & cucumber salad is an ideal pairing, with a red cabbage & carrot slaw.
A citrussy Cumberland sauce contrasts beautifully with salty gammon.
What wine to serve with roast gammon
The best wine to serve with roast gammon
Gammon works well with both red and white wine. A Riesling is an excellent match if you have a sweet, fruity glaze, while red lovers will enjoy a velvety, berry-rich Beaujolais from our range of French wines.
Love your lefovers
Love your LEFTOVERS
Cooked ham is endlessly versatile and has many uses beyond sandwiches.
For further inspiration, check out our ham recipes.
Why not whip up a gammon & onion marmalade mac ’n’ cheese or gammon & roast potato hash browns?
A little ham goes a long way in a soup, such as a creamy ham, leek & butterbean broth.
And if you are hankering for a sandwich, make it special – try our Monte Cristo, an indulgent fried American sandwich.
Kitchen kit for great roast gammon
Kitchen kit for great roast gammon
It’s just not a proper roast beef dinner if there are no Yorkshire puddings, and this dishwasher-safe Yorkshire pudding tray makes 4 large puds.
A gravy separator niftily separates out the fat for healthier gravies, as well as straining out any lumps or herb sprigs.
Cook your roast perfectly to your liking every time using a digital meat thermometer to check the internal temperature.
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