Gammon or Ham.

[Gruney]

I know - or at least I think I do - that gammon is raw meat, and ham is cooked. I have been given to understand that that's the convention in the UK.

Does this apply to the US? I ask because I've seen quite a number of American Slow Cooker recipes recently that call for an amount of "ham" as an initial ingredient. I can't believe this would be already cooked.

[EmWilk]

I always thought that ham was on the bone and gammon off... and that was the difference. Although I could be wrong and would be interested to know so will keep an eye on this...

[suffolk]

I've always understood the same as Gruney - and this bears it out

"Gammon is the name given to the meat from the hind legs of a pig that has been cured in the same way as bacon. The main difference between gammon and ham is that gammon will be sold raw and needs to be cooked; ham is sold cooked or dry-cured and ready for eating. Once gammon is cooked it can be called a ham and may be sold as a gammon ham."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/gammon

What they say on the other side of the Atlantic may be totally different ..............

[StokeySue]

The ham is the hind leg of a pig up into the rump
Strictly speaking, what we call "ham" is cured ham, raw or cooked makes no difference, so yes Americans are cooking a raw cured pig leg joint, the term is the same in both countries
Think of Parma and Serrano, hams eaten cured but raw
A whole raw ham


Bacon is the side part of the pig, mainly the ribs and) is usually cured using a different salt mixture to ham intended for booing,
hence the stronger flavour of bacon; the gammon (again strictly speaking) is the part of the rump that is cured attached to the side of bacon if the ham is not taken off first, and then separated after curing; a bacon joint is any other joint put through the bacon cure I suspect the gammon is removed before curing these days for ease of handling

In practice, I think many Brits don't distinguish between a gammon joint and a bacon joint from the collar, which is my personal preference for cooking at home and serving hot
Gammon


A map of the pig, showing where all the bacon comes from they have decided not to take the ham


So for slow cooker recipes raw ham and gammon are interchangeable, though the ham may be a milder cure

[suffolk]

[Seatallan]

Frankly, so long as it finds its way to my tummy, I don't care what it's called!

[suffolk]

[StokeySue]

[Gruney]

[Seatallan]

Not sure we've really answered the question have we Gruney? Us Wildies are grand masters at going off on a tangent.

I think, if it were me, I'd assume uncooked but, depending on the recipe, it might not matter too much.

[earthmaiden]

I have never heard my friends in the US use the word 'gammon'. They are ham lovers and use the term for the meat served both hot and cold. I think that as Sue says, it is a term used for a cured joint.

Personally I cannot imagine chopping up uncooked gammon for the slow cooker as it is usually considered to be something special but it might just be me as I am not very fond of it.

[suffolk]

This is interesting ...

"Bacon, Ham, Gammon – what’s the difference?

All are cured meats, which means they are prepared using salt or brine and all can be smoked. So what’s the difference?

Gammon comes from an old French word, Gambe, which means the hind leg. Originally Gammon was the term used when the meat from the hind leg was cut into joints after the whole carcass has been brined or smoked, while Ham referred to meat which had been cut first and brined or smoked afterwards.

Nowadays the term Gammon is only used for meat cut from the hind leg, regardless of how it was prepared. While a ham can be cut from the hind leg it can also be from other parts of the carcass, so it’s just a slightly less specific term.

Bacon is meat cut from parts of the pig other than the legs, such as the loin, collar or the belly.

extract from http://www.jameswhelanbutchers.com/info ... acon-cuts/

However, as I said ... that doesn't tell us what Americans mean by any of the terms

Where's NurseMimi?

[nursemimi]

Hello a ham is a cured and possible smoked hind quarter of the pig.
you can buy it here either raw or slices or chunks that are already cooked.
Gammon is not a term I have ever heard used over here.
Hope that helps

[Gruney]

Thank you nursemimi.