What's the difference between bacon and gammon?
What is the difference between Gammon and Bacon? Would it be generally reasonable to substitute the two as required?
Best Answer
I did my internship for culinary school in London, and if I recall correctly from what I saw in the markets there, what you call Gammon would be equivalent to our Ham - both coming from the pig's rear leg.
What we call bacon is what you'd call "streaky" or "streaky bacon" which is made from the pork belly.
Streaky would be the best substitute in recipes calling for bacon.
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What is the difference between gammon ham and bacon?
Glorious Gammon This is cured pork from the hind legs of the pig. The curing process is the same as that used for bacon, a highly skilled method of preserving meat using salt (either in a brine solution or dry cured using a salt based rub). Dry curing tends to prduce more subtle flavour and an improved meat texture.Can you substitute gammon for bacon?
Update: Based on your images above, yes gammon can be used as a substitute for back bacon.Are bacon and ham the same thing?
Overview. Bacon is meat taken from the back, loin or belly of the pig. Bacon is either dry cured in cold air or by smoking or packed with large amounts of salt, or wet cured when it is immersed in liquid brine. Ham is meat cut from the thigh or rump of the pig.Are gammon and ham the same?
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.More answers regarding what's the difference between bacon and gammon?
Answer 2
"Both ham and gammon are cut from the leg of a pig. The meat is the same but the preparation and treatment is different. Ham and gammon are both cured meats. This means that they are treated with salt, known as brining, and other substances before being eaten.
Ham is meat that is cut from the carcass and then treated.
Gammon is meat that is cut from the carcass after the brining treatment.
Both gammons and hams might also be smoked.
Traditionally, regional variants in the process and the ingredients used would bring different flavours to the cured meats. This explains the origin of distinctive varieties such as York ham, Bayonne ham and Prague ham.
Air dried hams are also cured first but then usually eaten raw whereas brined hams are baked or boiled before serving."
Answer 3
According to my local friendly butcher, Gammon is a type of bacon that is specifically from the hind quarters.
Bacon is defined as any pork that has been cured through a process of salting, either as a dry-cure or a wet-cure where the meat is either packed in salts or brine respectively. With wet curing, other ingredients can be added to impart other flavours, such as beer or sugars.
Typically, rashers are made from the body of the pig with streaky bacon coming from the belly, and back bacon coming from, well, the back (so the same cut as a pork loin chop). Bacon joints are typically made by combining cuts of bacon from the shoulder and collar, whilst the hind quarters are sold as gammon with a premium on price.
Traditionally ham referred to cooked gammon, although in modern uses, it is often extended to include other cooked bacon joints, which include moulded meats made from combining cuts together with other additives to help bind them.
Answer 4
Well bacon is a very generic term. You might want to clarify which you're referring to.
In America 'bacon' comes from the belly of the pig. Whereas, according to Wikipedia bacon in the UK typically comes from the back of the pig (we call this canadian bacon). Either way these are usually dry-cured.
Gammon cuts come from the hind legs of the pig. It is typically wet-cured.
Update: Based on your images above, yes gammon can be used as a substitute for back bacon.
Answer 5
Bacon
In England good bacon is dry salted, (without sugar) and is mostly cut from the back and side of the pig and has a 'pork chop' appearance, with an eye (tenderloin), and muscle streaks and fat attached to the tail end (side of the ribs).
It is called a rasher, often has the skin attached, and can be either 'green' (unsmoked) or smoked (never hot smoked like in N. America).
It may be cooked to a crisp, or just till it turns opaque. Depends on taste.
There are many regional varieties, with Wiltshire and Danish being premium varieties. In Scotland, Ayrshire bacon is excellent and the rasher is rolled so the bacon rasher has a round appearance. Good bacon and gammon does not ooze white stuff, nor does it shrink much when it is fried.
Gammon
Gammon is always cut thicker and is composed mostly of meat like a ham slice. It also tastes different. From my understanding it is usually made from salted leg meat.
You can find photos of 'English bacon rasher' and 'gammon rasher' on the web if you include UK in the search. If you haven't tasted this kind of bacon you can get an idea of the British bacon taste by salting a piece of pork belly in the fridge (it really needs fat to be delicious). Just leave out the sugar and spice. There are recipes on the web. You may never go back to the water soaked meat in a plastic bag that is sold as bacon in supermarkets.
Answer 6
Peameal Bacon is commonly known as Canadian Bacon, it comes from the loin is cured and rolled in cornmeal. Streaky Bacon is also often referred to as Canadian Bacon, comes from the belly, cured and then smoked.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Malcolm Garret, Engin Akyurt, Heather Jonasson, Thought Catalog