Generals gather in their masses

[venta]

Two completely unrelated polls:

[Poll #1867260]

Please be honest. This is the difference between "oh, really?" and "ha, Jamie, see! I was right, I was right!"

[Poll #1867261]

Comments

[lnr]

Oh I was thinking at a carvery the ham would be a big ham joint - which I definitely think of as different from and superior to gammon.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I am hopelessly confused about the words ham and gammon :( Having done a bit of googling, so is everyone else.

I reckon gammon is cured, but uncooked, pork meat. If you cook it, it becomes ham.

So this was a big joint, carved in front of us (rather than ready-sliced ham). I'm confused by your "superior to gammon", as I don't know what you mean by gammon there! A gammon steak?

[lnr]

To me gammon has a erm, shinier texture. But maybe you're right and it is just a difference between cooked and uncooked, in which case I don't really know why I'd think ham is better. Perhaps it is just that if you cook it as a whole joint it's nicer than when cooked as a steak? Gammon steaks often seem to be really salty too - in a way that whole cooked hams don't (whether hot or cold). Hmm. Perhaps I have been foolish to have been put off by whole gammon compared to whole ham!

[venta.livejournal.com]

I have no idea - with a bit of luck someone will informed will come and be authoritative at us!

[lnr]

I've seen one suggestion that gammon is cured as part of a whole side of pig and then cut up, and that ham is cut into lumps first before curing - I can see why that might give them slightly different textures.

[metame.livejournal.com]

As a tiny piece of additional data: In Spain the ham is certainly cured as entire legs.
Intoducing other country's ideas is bound to help clarify things, right?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Not quite as much as if you introduced ideas from the US, but pretty useful, yes :)