(ZA) Maple & bourbon glazed gammon

Another beautiful day, another epic egging session!

Just a quick, simple glazed ham for our tea tonight but oh boy, did it taste delicious. I took a small gammon joint bought from our tame Butcher, put it in a saucepan and covered with water. I added a quartered onion, a bay leaf and six black peppercorns and brought the whole thing to the boil, uncovered, for an hour. I then removed it from the water and left it to cool.

In the meantime, I knocked up a quick glaze to put on the ham from 2tsp maple Syrup, 2tsp freshly ground black pepper, 1tsp Dijon mustard, 1tsp bourbon, 1tsp vegetable oil, 1tsp paprika, 2tsp onion powder and a generous pinch of Maldon sea salt. 

I smothered the gammon in the glaze and left to marinate while setting the egg up, indirect to a temperature of 325degF and soaked some pecan wood chips in water.

I put drained pecan chips on the coals, the gammon on the grid and cooked until it reached an internal temperature of 145degF. Until the glaze was lovely golden colour and nicely caramelised. I rested it in foil, in a towel, in a cool box for 20 minutes while I cooked the rest of the side dishes to go with it. There is also plenty for sandwiches tomorrow! Bonus!

(AW&ZA) Pecan-smoked "scotched" eggs

Although this weekend is the first outdoor cook of the year for many families around the UK, for us it is just a regular egging Saturday but we dared to be a little different!

Video can be found:- Here

Scotch eggs on the BGE sounded like an amazing idea so we thought we'd give it a shot...

First to prep the eggs...take 6 eggs and place them in a pan of cold water. bring the water to the boil over a high heat moving the eggs around frequently to keep the yolk in the middle of the egg while cooking. As soon as the water starts to boil, cook for 2 minutes then quickly place all the eggs in a bath of iced water to stop them cooking. Leave them to cool in this water. 

I mixed 500g of pork mince (from our favourite Butcher, Chapmans of Baldock) with 1tsp garlic granules, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper and mixed thoroughly. I divided the sausage mix into 6 even patties. Put each pattie between two layers of cling film and rolled them into approx 5 inch circles. I placed a (carefully!) peeled egg into the centre of the pork pattie and rolled the meat up around it. Try to smooth the seams so that you get a nice even "coat" of meat around the egg and no egg white is showing. When they were all wrapped, I liberally dusted them with a coating of our bbq rub. I used homemade "#67" (which is a rub made of brown sugar, chilli powder, paprika, onion granules, black pepper, szechuan pepper, ground coffee, cayenne pepper, salt and garlic granules) but any favourite rub will do fine. I left them to chill in the fridge for an hour and soaked some pecan wood chips in water ready for later.

We set up the egg to cook at 235degF, indirect. You can use the digiQ for this...unless you are a skilled egg-meister like Adie Webster, who maintained this temperature using only his awesome mind! (seriously, I don't know how he does it!)

Chuck in the drained pecan chips and place the eggs straight on the grate. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes until the eggs are golden and firm.

They smelled amazing but we had no idea of the wonderful surprise that awaited us when we cut into them...

Crispy on the outside with the rub forming a bark on the minced pork and a sumptuous soft-boiled egg on the inside. We ate them with home-made chips, beans and a sweet barbecue sauce. Just stunning!