Gammon, egg and chips

Lou

1 year ago

Simple yet delicious; perfect to enjoy any time of the day

There’s not much to say about gammon, egg and chips, just that it works.

Egg and chips for me is a marriage made in heaven.

Whenever I feel the need for a bit of comfort eating this is the dish I often turn to.

And it usually is on my mind when we have cooked up some baked potatoes and have leftovers.

Or we add a few extra potatoes in so we can fry them up the next evening as delicious homemade fries.

If you do this, then you feel like you’ve saved a lot of time when it comes to cooking a gammon, egg and chips.

Or, my other midweek cheat, is using frozen chips.

But gammon and chips have come a long way from their culinary journey to my comfortable home and life.

Eggs and chips became popular in Britain during World War I due to a shortage of meat.

It was a favourite food of Tommies (slang for a Britishsoldier in WW1) behind the lines on the Western Front in northern France and Belgium.

Gammon and chips were eaten at establishments (“estaminet”), which also sold cheap wine and beer.

The answer is – not much.

Both of these delicious and versatile cuts are taken from the pig’s hind legs.

Gammon is meat that has been cured (by being salted, brined or smoked) and sold raw.

Whereas ham is meat that has been dry-cured or cooked, and is sold ready to eat.

In a nutshell; when you’ve cooked your Gammon, it becomes Ham.

Pan-frying and grilling are the two best, and quickest, ways of cooking gammon steaks.

To grill the steaks, simply rub them in oil and grill for 3–4 minutes on each side before serving.

To pan-fry:

Pour a glug of oil into a frying pan over medium heat.
Season the gammon steak with pepper and place it in the pan, seasoned-side down – it should sizzle when you place it in.
Season the top side and cook for 3 mins – don’t move it about.
After 3 mins, flip the steak over and cook for another 3 mins, until both sides have a nice golden-brown crust.
It’s ready to plate up.

When I researched this, I came across Heston Blumental’s perfect egg method.

Wow.

How much time and effort does he really think we have?!

So, needless to say, I quickly passed over that.

I mean, it’s not that hard to fry an egg, is it?

And, as long as the yolk is lovely and running, I’m a happy person.

Having said that, I thought it worthwhile seeing how Mr. Oliver suggests a good egg.

So, here it is…

The perfectly cooked fried egg:

Get your frying pan on medium to low heat and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a large non-stick pan (about 1 tablespoon).
Crack the eggs into the pan (if the oil starts to spit it’s because it’s too hot, so turn the heat right down).
Cook until the tops of the whites are set but the yolk is still runny. You can spoon the hot oil gently over the top of the egg to help cook it.
When they’re ready dab them with some paper towels to soak up any excess oil.

For more gammon recipes, visit here.