How-To Guides

How to cook gammon steak

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What is gammon steak?

A familiar fixture on pub menus across the country, gammon steak is a British classic, most often plated alongside chips, a fried egg and either a decent chutney or slice of pineapple. Swaledale’s gammon steak is cut from the hind legs of our outdoor reared, heritage breed pigs – the muscles are individually seam-butchered for an even cure in our traditional brine of spice, sugar, and salt to create a wonderful depth of flavour.

How long does gammon steak take to cook?

Grilling (around 3-4 minutes each side) and pan-frying (2-3 minutes each side) are the two best (and quickest) methods for cooking the perfect gammon steak. We like to use a griddle pan (particularly as it adds char lines to the look of your gammon steaks) or a high-quality pan with a good weight to it – this ensures the steaks do not adhere to the pan.

Gammon steaks are also ideal for grilling on the barbecue, with the flames and smoke bringing a new dimension to a familiar ingredient.

What’s the best way to cook gammon steak?

  1. Take your gammon steaks out of the refrigerator before cooking.
  2. Remove your meat from the vacuum packaging and pat dry any moisture. Allow it to come up to room temperature.
  3. Heat a griddle or heavy-based frying pan until hot (but not smoking).
  4. Just before cooking, rub olive oil over both sides of the steaks and season with cracked pepper if desired (you don’t need to add any salt to the gammon as it’s already quite salty).
  5. Add your gammon steaks to the dry pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Resist the urge to move the steaks around in the pan – they will naturally release from the pan when a rich, golden crust has formed. If they appear remotely resistant to being flipped, be patient and they will naturally release when ready to be turned.
  6. Repeat the process on the other side.
  7. Serve immediately.

What to have with gammon steak

You don’t always have to follow the rule book when it comes to a gammon steak. The sweetness of pineapple is a juicy match for the salty flavour of the meat and cuts through the fat brilliantly.

Why not consider a different format in the form of a quick pineapple chutney? Combine 100ml of cider vinegar with 80g of demerara sugar, bring to a vigorous boil and add in a double-handful of diced pineapple with 1-2 chopped fresh red chillies (including seeds), and a chopped red onion. Continue to boil for several minutes – remove from the heat and chill. This sweet-sour-spicy combination is a brilliant foil for a gammon steak.

Alternatively, why not warm the cockles with Valentine Warner’s Gammon and cockles on toast recipe?

Jorge hails from the Black Mountains where he grew up surrounded by hardy, native livestock. His passion for cookery was sparked by his upbringing, but developed and intensified alongside his respect for British breeds, and zeal for nose-to-tail eating. In 2009 trained chef Jorge launched Swaledale in Haworth, and took his native-breed led whole-carcass butchery philosophy to high profile restaurateurs. Jorge is a passionate procurer and hanger of meat, and is keen to showcase the sublime taste and texture that comes from ageing, higher fat content, and an older carcass. Jorge proudly invests in native-breeds, as maintaining their market demand is crucial to their very survival. Jorge studied Creative Writing at Leeds University, and is a former Welsh athletics champion. He lives with his wife, ceramicist Amy Thomas and their 2 children, Fynn and Bea, on a remote grouse moor in West Yorkshire.