salt that lives in a pig
i love pig of all kinds. but this is the only pig in the house at the moment. except for some spanish chorizo pig. the british media were very quick to break the story of unsafe irish pork. how ironic that the oil that made it unsafe came from british jurisdiction. i wonder can the irish government seek compensation from the british government (joke), the eu said there was no fund. course there was no fund for voted-no-to-lisbon irish farmers. the scary thing about the piggy mess is how empty supermarkets are without all the pigmeat. we are very dependent on it as a cheap source of protein.
The ChickenOut campaign appears to have radically changed consumer habits in the UK. I found anicedotal evidence for this also in Superquinn which I wrote about.
So, chicken welfare is improving, but what about the pork industry?
There are pigs who are also kept in appaling conditions. On a recent Horizon programme, whilst trying to decide whether organic or industrial pig rearing was better, Prof. Leslie Regan got unprecedented filmed access to a pig farm.
After seeing the difference between organically reared pigs and factory reared pigs, she still believed the organic argument had little to offer! It was unbelievable. Especially as it showed the conditions the sows are kept in, i.e. on their sides, held up by bars, unable to move, for fear they might squash their piglets. If that sow had a choice, I’m sure she’d rather be rooting in a field. Same goes for the piglets.
The trouble is, whilst it is really really easy to find organic chicken, beef, lamb in Irish supermarkets, organic pork and bacon is another story. Organic pork and bacon in a sausage and rasher country still is not an issue. It should be! Pork is another meat I am going to have to stop eating. Pigs Out! I have had trouble for a long time about the cheapness of pork. Now I know why it is so cheap! Organic free range out door pigs please. Organic, free range out door pork meat and bacon please.
I used to look at hams in butcher shops hungrily. A ham was something I loved to eat at Christmas, unlike gobble wobble turkey. But I had never tried to cook one. Turkey and Laura were never meant to be friends. At Christmas last year, I was chef, so we had beef. You really cannot beat a fillet of beef roasted. There is no waste at all with it so in my opinion, it is totally worth the premium price. SK once reported to me that some friends of his were amazed at the idea of roast fillet of beef. As an aside, you can sucessfully roast practically any meat, even sausages. I will never again fry a sausage. In today’s apartments and houses the trend is towards kitchen diners or kitchen/diner/living space so avoiding odours is key to harmony. Who wants to spend an evening in a smelly cooking odour room? The smelliest foods to deal with are often the ones that you fry, especially fish and meat. So my solution? Just don’t fry them! Roast them! Roast everything. My grandmother said it was the easiest way to cook and there are times when I absolutely have to agree with her. If you can’t roast and don’t want to fry there is always the steaming/boiling method. Steaming chicken and fish works very well. No odours.
But back to ham. Although we were having beef, the hams in Donovan’s butcher’s on Princess Street in Cork sang to me when we were walking past on Christmas Eve. I just had to have one. But how to cook? Easy Peasy! Although I had never cooked one, I knew, “Twenty minutes to the pound and twenty minutes over!”. (Again, uttered hundreds of times by my grandmother and mother).
A ham that has to be simmered. But, here is the conundrum. To be brave enough to boil it in full fat cocoa-cola or not. At Christmas, I boiled my first ham. Correction. I simmered my first ham. That is key. Barely moving water. Forty five minutes to the kilo, twenty minutes over. I simmered my second the other day.
A big pot is essential to simmering a ham. At Christmas, we used to borrow a neighbours, because although we had plenty wide enough, we never had one deep enough.
As a wedding present, SK and I got the Nigella all purpose pot. This pot is bliss. It looks like a woman or an urn sitting on the hob. I absolutely love mine. Its sexy somehow. Its initiation was into the ham simmering world.
So,
one green ham
cloves (lots of)
one lemon sliced
water to cover the ham completely
bring to simmer point very slowly
skim off scum
reduce heat so that the water rolls gently
simmer for the weight times the time.
note, never take the weight as given outside the ham. the plastic always adds more weight. so remove plastic and weigh again before cooking.
let sit in water until the ham is completely cool.
drain
put on a plate. place in fridge.
voila. instant week night supper when served with salad, new potatoes or crusty bread.
simply delicious. a sad summer fridge (i have learned) is a fridge without a freshly cooked ham. (unless you are vegetarian!)
Now, I just have to summon up the courage to simmer one in Coke. The problem is, I wouldn’t want to waste a whole ham if it wasn’t edible. Nigella says it is, so I should believe her. Third ham lucky shall be coke.
