This Bonfire Gammon Stew recipe gives you perfectly cooked gammon meat and is so easy, chuck it all in and enjoy the delicious scent it produces!
Gammon Joint slowly cooked with beans, vegetables, onions, garlic, tomato puree, mustard, herbs & spices.
We provide instructions for Oven, Pressure cooker and Slow cooker. Our favourite and by far quickest method is Pressure Cooker!
Why is it called Bonfire Gammon Stew?
We named it ourselves, as we first created it on Fireworks Night (Guy Fawkes). Sadly we have to stay in with our dogs, one of which is petrified! So we like to make this and tuck in whilst watching the fireworks through the window!!
Lets get straight to the recipe.
📖 Step by Step Recipe
Bonfire Gammon Stew
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg Gammon Joint - smoked or unsmoked
- 2 tin Baked Beans
- 1 tin Butter Bean (drained) - Optional
- 330 grams Cherry Tomatoes - or 390 g tinned tomatoes
- 2 red onions
- 3 Carrots - diced
- 8 Mushrooms - chopped
- 2 teaspoon Gia Garlic Puree - or 4 cloves of crushed garlic
- 1 tablespoon Gia Sundried Tomato Puree - or 2 tablespoon of tomato puree
- 2 teaspoon Gia Chilli Puree - or 1-2 medium chillies finely sliced
- 1 teaspoon Gia Anchovy Puree - or 1 crushed Anchovy
- 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon Cumin
To thicken stew if desired?
- Cornflour - 1-2 tsp
- Warm water - 1-2 tsp
Instructions
- Preferably, soak the gammon in water overnight, kept in the fridge. Drain water before use. Or just rinse with cold water before starting. This step is to remove excess saltiness.
Pressure cooker Method
- Place all the ingredients in the pressure cooker, give it all a good stir.
- Place the gammon on top. It may look like there is not enough liquid at this point. Extra liquid will be created during the cooking process. So, do not be tempted to add any liquid.
- Lock the lid on the pressure cooker with the valve closed. Cook on Meat mode for 1 hr. Let the pressure release naturally. (about 10 mins)
- Open the lid, to check if the meat is ready, you will notice there is a lot of liquid now.Once the gammon is shredded the stew will thicken up.Pull the gammon out and shred with 2 forks, If the meat is not breaking away easily, put back on meat mode for another 30 mins.
- Stir shredded gammon back into the pot, and keep warm until ready to serve
Slow Cooker Method
- Place all the ingredients in the slow cooker, give it all a good stir.
- Place the gammon on top. It may look like there is not enough liquid at this point. The extra liquid will be created during the cooking process. So, do not be tempted to add any liquid.
- Set the slow cooker on a high setting, place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 6-7 hrs
- Open the lid, to check if the meat is ready.Pull the gammon out and shred with 2 forks.Once the gammon is shredded the stew will thicken up.
- Stir shredded gammon back into the pot, and keep warm until ready to serve
Oven Method
- Place all the ingredients in the casserole dish, give it all a good stir. Place the gammon on top. It may look like there is not enough liquid at this point. The extra liquid will be created during the cooking process. So, do not be tempted to add any liquid.
- Cook in the oven for 3 hrs at 180°c, checking every hour give a stir if necessary
- Open the lid, to check if the meat is ready, you will notice there is a lot of liquid, once the gammon is shredded the stew will thicken up.Pull the gammon out and shred with 2 forks, If the meat is not breaking away, put back in the oven for another 30 mins.
- Stir shredded gammon back into the pot, and keep warm until ready to serve
All methods. How to thicken stew?
- If you want to thicken stew more you can mix 1 teaspoon of warm water and 1 teaspoon of cornflour together. Stir through the hot stew at the end for about 2 minutes.
Video
Nutrition
Why is cooking together good?
Well, all hands were on deck with this Bonfire Gammon Stew.
Who needs Fortnite LOL!! What a great bonding session with my boy, here he is helping me and Kay with prepping this fantastic Bonfire stew for fireworks night.
My boy doing a cracking job cutting the mushrooms, food blogger in the making.
Do I need to soak gammon joint?
Soaking the gammon joint in water overnight before cooking the stew will reduce the salt levels.
Generally, the joints in the UK are not too salty so you can skip this step.
Just rinse in cold water and season with black pepper before placing in the pressure cooker pot.
How to prepare Gammon Stew?
It is so easy, simply place all the ingredients in the pressure cooker pot / slow cooker pot/ casserole dish.
Give it a good stir before placing your gammon joint on top.
It will look quite dry at this point, however the gammon retains alot of liquid which will be released when cooked.
So don't be tempted to add any water/stock.
Place lid on and cook for allocated time.
How long to cook 1.5 kg Gammon joint in a Stew?
Our favourite way to prepare this dish is in a pressure cooker. However we have given you directions for slow cooker or oven method too.
The below times are based on a 1.5kg Gammon Joint allow extra time for larger joints (extra 30 min per extra kg)
Pressure cooker is the quickest method it will take just over 1 hr.
Oven method will take about 3 hours.
Slow cooker will take 6-7 hours.
Why does my stew look watery?
After removing the lid to the Bonfire gammon stew, don't panic if it looks watery.
After you have shredded all the gammon then stirred it all together, it will thicken up perfectly.
If you want to thicken stew more you can mix warm water and cornflour together and stir through the hot stew at the end stir for about 2 minutes and keep adding a bit at a time until at desired consistency.
Served in Giant Yorkshire pudding which not only does it look good but at the same time it soaks up all the flavours of the stew.
Bonfire gammon stew, served in Giant Yorkshire pudding, absolutely fantastic and everyone loved it.
As you can see from this picture the juices are beautifully soaked up by the Yorkshire pudding, lush!!!
What to serve with Gammon stew?
Faster preparation using Gia Puree's
We sped up the process of making this bonfire gammon stew by using our favourite brand Gia.
Gia Garlic Puree – pick it up at any UK supermarket and save your time fiddling with peeling, chopping and pressing garlic cloves. The tube is kept in the fridge for use whenever you make another dish containing garlic!
Gia Chilli Puree – available from most supermarkets. Add it to any dish to add an instant kick. A little goes a long way; 1 teaspoon of puree is enough for some. We often use 2 teaspoon as we like it hot! Keep in the fridge between uses.
Gia Sundried Tomato Puree – available from most supermarkets, add the richness of sundried tomatoes to any recipe. Blended with oils and herbs, the secret ingredient to any good meal.
We often use in place of regular Tomato puree, to add extra richness. You will only need half the amount of this compared to regular puree!
If you enjoyed this recipe why not try our Beef and Red wine Stew with Dumplings!
Nishat says
I made this stew to you with some homemade cheese and herb bread that I'd made. This stew is absolutely everything a warm and comforting stew should be! I made it according to all your instructions and the stew was thick, warm, smoky, sweet and meaty - delicious. Your recipe needed zero tweaking as it was perfect as is. This will definitely be a part of my regular meal rotations from here on in.
Luke and Kay says
Nishat, this has absolutely made our day – thank you so much! 😊
I love that you served it with your homemade cheese and herb bread… that sounds like the perfect pairing for soaking up all that thick, smoky sauce.
It means so much to hear you followed the recipe exactly and didn’t need to tweak a thing. That’s always our aim, so your feedback really does mean the world to us.
So happy it’s earned a spot in your regular meal rotation too – that’s the best compliment we could ask for. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience! 💛