Cooked hams

delicious. team

Written by the expert and completely food-obsessed team behind this website, our social channels and our monthly magazine.

Find more

Real cooked hams (as opposed to cheap sliced ham, which is re-formed meat from parts of a cured pig that has been shaped and sliced) often take their names from the method of production as well as the locality.

Cheap sliced ham is not usually from the hind leg: it’s re-formed meat from other parts of the cured pig that has been shaped and sliced. Water is added during this process, plus additives such as sugar, gelatine, fat, flavourings, colourings and preservatives. By law, bacon and ham producers can add up to 10% of the meat’s weight in water without declaring it, so claims a ham has “not more than 15% added water” probably means it is 25% water.
YORK HAM
A dry-salted ham, sometimes lightly smoked, which is cooked on the bone.
BRADENHAM HAM
A well-known ham from Chippenham, Wiltshire. After being dry-cured, it is basted for a long time in a mixture of molasses and spices, then left to mature for several months, resulting in a jet-black skin. It has a delicate, sweet flavour.
WILTSHIRE HAM
The name refers to the method of curing. The ham (i.e. hind leg) has been cured on the side of pork, rather than separately. A mild all-rounder.
VIRGINIA HAM
An American ham from a pure-breed pig fed on a diet of peaches and peanuts. It is cured in a mixture of molasses, brown sugar and pepper.
PICNIC HAM
A ham produced from the fore leg, not the hind leg.

HOW TO COOK A GAMMON