Britain and Ireland · Volume 35, The Pie, the Pluck and the Girder Drink
Irn Bru Glazed Gammon
Modern Central Belt kitchen
Illustration
- Time
- 3 hours
- Researched
- 10 sources cited
A gammon joint poached in Irn Bru and finished under a hot glaze of honey, marmalade and mustard, a modern domestic riff closely modelled on the well known Coca Cola ham rather than an old tradition, and honestly presented as such.
As tradition built it
Serves 6 to 8. About 3 hours.
Ingredients
For the gammon
- 1.5kg gammon joint, approximately
- 1 onion, quartered
- 2 litres Irn Bru, approximately
For the glaze
- 3 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp marmalade
- 1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 4 tbsp Irn Bru, more
- 6 tbsp brown sugar
Method
- Simmer the gammon gently with the quartered onion in the Irn Bru for just under two and a half hours, until cooked through.
- Drain, and score the fat in a diamond pattern.
- Mix the honey, marmalade, mustard, more Irn Bru and brown sugar into a glaze, and coat the joint.
- Finish in a 240°C oven for around 10 minutes, until burnished and sticky.
Notes
This chapter has deliberately not presented this as an old tradition: it is a modern domestic riff, closely modelled on the well known Coca Cola glazed ham, and its honest lineage is worth stating rather than hiding.
What a modern chef changes
A twelve hour sous vide joint, and the poaching liquid itself reduced into the glaze
Rung 5
Method
- Cook the gammon sous vide at 68°C for 12 hours rather than simmering it, for a far more even, tender result with none of the toughening a rolling boil risks.
- Reduce the poaching Irn Bru itself, rather than fresh from the bottle, down to a thick, dark glaze concentrated in a high power blender with the honey and mustard for a smoother emulsion than a simple whisked mixture gives.
- Finish under a very hot Big Green Egg rather than a domestic grill, for a harder, more even caramelisation on the scored fat in a fraction of the time.