‘delicious, Glossy … Beautiful Hot And Cold’: The Best Christmas Ham Joints, Tasted And Rated

A generous ham connected nan array makes my Christmas each year. Whether you for illustration greenish aliases smoked, free-range aliases organic, nan humble ham is simply a cornerstone of nan festive feast. If you can, spell arsenic ample arsenic possible, because bigger joints rotation and necktie much easily, and person a much moreover furniture of fat that results successful a better, much generous ham. And, of course, those Boxing Day leftovers are axenic joy.

A bully furniture of fat matters, because it adds flavour and, erstwhile glazed, a delicious, gelatinous crust – successful fact, that’s my favourite bit. Smooth, tender, brine-cured hams are cleanable for acold cuts sliced for illustration classical supermarket-style ham. Coarser, organic, nitrite- and nitrate-free joints are perfect for slow roasting, which gives them a overmuch deeper, richer flavour. Nitrates and nitrites person been utilized for hundreds of years to sphere meat, and thief create that acquainted blushed pinkish colour and recognisable flavour, but we’ve go more alert of nan wellness risks they airs successful nan past decade aliases so. If you’re trying to debar these additives, location are nitrate- and nitrite-free hams retired location that are delicious, albeit darker and coarser.

Animal use matters, too, of course. Free-range and integrated gammon is frustratingly difficult to find successful supermarkets, and moreover from independent butchers, it seems – I’ve been told by integrated butcheries that location is simply a shortage of integrated pork. So for this sensation test, I’ve surgery nan mould and done my shopping online, seeking retired butchers pinch precocious use standards and nationwide delivery. Many person minimum orders and constricted transportation days, truthful if you fancy going down this route, make judge you bid early; galore connection sign-up incentives specified arsenic free transportation aliases 10% off, making this a smart measurement to unafraid top-quality, high-welfare nutrient for Christmas. Your section butcher is besides 1 of nan champion options. Just retrieve to bid successful beforehand – Christmas is conscionable astir nan corner!

Look for organic, free-range aliases outdoor-reared pigs that person had entree to nan outdoors for their full lives, and cheque retired Farms Not Factories’ explanation guideline to thief demystify use standards. Farmers who breed pigs outdoors often take practice breeds specified arsenic gloucestershire aged spots aliases ample blacks, because they’re amended suited to outdoor living. By choosing hams from heritage breeds raised outdoors, you’re not only supporting accepted farming methods but besides contributing to nan preservation of biodiversity and much sustainable agriculture.

For this tasting, I brought each gammon to a boil, replenished nan water, past simmered based connected weight: 30 minutes per 500g, positive 30 minutes extra. I didn’t glaze nan hams, because I wanted a clear sensation of nan meat, and nan tasting was done lukewarm and acold truthful arsenic to afloat admit texture and flavour. Happy Christmas!

The champion gammon

Photograph: GMVozd/Getty Images

Best overall:
Pipers Farm autochthonal breed unsmoked gammon

★★★★★

A ample instrumentality of brine-cured and air-dried gammon pinch a perfect, 10mm-thick furniture of fat and rind. Wonderfully saccharine pinch balanced saltiness, awesome extent of flavour and lovely-tasting fat. Medium to coarse texture. Made from free-range saddleback pigs reared connected small-scale family farms. Contains additives. Excellent worth for nan quality.

Best bargain:
Field & Flower dry-cured unsmoked horseshoe gammon

★★★★★

A neat, mini associated pinch a heavy furniture of fat and bladed rind. Savoury, delicious and glossy from nan fat, pinch a tender texture that slices beautifully some basking and cold. Made from free-range British pork leg, calved and reared outdoors each twelvemonth round. Contains preservatives. Great quality, and nan astir economical free-range gammon of nan lot.

And nan remainder …

Waitrose No 1 free-range British unsmoked gammon joint

★★★★☆

A quintessential dry-cured ham pinch a ray colour and a generous furniture of fat. Medium salty pinch a balanced, sweet-savoury flavour. Slices neatly, pinch a medium-coarse texture. Made from free-range British pigs sired by pedigree Hampshire boars, and reared outdoors successful straw-filled shelters. Contains additives. Great value.

The Wild Meat Company Blythburgh free-range gammon

★★★★☆

A ray pink, boneless ham pinch bully jelly and a mini portion of fat and rind. Quite salty, but deliciously saccharine and subtly flavoured. Smooth, tender nutrient that’s beautiful lukewarm and cold. Free-range, brine-cured pork that contains stabilisers, nitrates and hydrolysed rootlike protein. Quite pricey, but awesome quality.

Kimbers’ Farm Shop gammon joint

★★★☆☆

A generous, information associated pinch much than a centimetre of fat and rind. Medium-dark nutrient pinch balanced saltiness and a sweet, gamey flavour, which creates a beautiful clear jelly erstwhile cooked. Medium-coarse and tender, some lukewarm and cold. Made from outdoor-raised gloucestershire aged spot pigs pinch straw-bedded accepted pigsties pinch an extracurricular pen. Contains nitrates.

The Dorset Meat Company boneless unsmoked horseshoe gammon

★★★☆☆

A large, well-strung gammon pinch a bladed furniture of fat and rind, and acheronian meat. Quite salty, truthful worthy double-boiling, but has a strong, well-balanced, sweet-savoury flavour. Coarse nutrient texture. Outdoor-reared pigs from mini Dorset and Wiltshire farms, fattened successful sheds. Contains nitrates.

Artisan Box free-range gammon joint

★★★☆☆

A beautiful, neatly rolled, wet-cured gammon joint. Perfectly savoury, pinch a soft texture that slices easy and tastes delicious lukewarm aliases cold. Farmed successful Cornwall by Primrose Herd and neighbouring farms. Outdoor bred. Contains additives.