Making a pig’s ear of it! Mother discovers she forgot to remove the plastic from her gammon joint AFTER glazing it with honey and cooking it for seven hours
- Lauren Mackay, 27, was mortified after leaving the plastic wrapping on her pork
- The NHS rehab support worker had put the gammon in a slow-cooker all day
- Lauren, from Aldershot, Hampshire, and her family still ate the gammon joint
A mother was left red-faced after glazing a gammon joint in honey and slow-cooking it for seven hours only to find she had left the plastic wrapping on the meat joint.
Lauren Mackay, 27, from Aldershot, Hampshire, noticed a peculiar ‘skin’ on her cooked pork when she went to take it out of the cooker and realised the wrapping was still on.
To prepare the gammon, Lauren had taken the joint out of the fridge and soaked it in water for an hour before glazing it with honey and then putting it in her slow-cooker on a low heat for seven hours.
However, when the NHS rehab support worker came home later on she discovered her simple meal had not gone according to plan.
NHS rehab support worker Lauren Mackay, 27, (pictured) from Aldershot, Hampshire, left a gammon joint slow-cooking for seven hours only to discover it still wrapped in plastic
After returning home from work, Lauren discovered what she thought was a strange ‘skin’ on her slow-cooked gammon joint (pictured)
She phoned her mother Jill Murray, 52, to ask what was wrong with the meat when she realised something was wrong.
Her mother pointed out the hilarious mistake and advised her against trying to eat it.
Despite the warning, Lauren, her partner Sean Makepeace, 30, and her eldest daughter Matilda Mackay, seven, decided to tuck in anyway.
Lauren, who is also mother to five-month-old Delilah Makepeace, said: ‘I was absolutely gutted when I came home and realised what I’d done. I was so hungry.
After phoning her mother, Lauren was told that she had left the plastic wrapping on her gammon joint and was advised not to eat it. Pictured: Lauren stood next to her slow cooker
Despite her mother’s warning, Lauren unwrapped the meat, covered it in honey again and then ate it with her family
‘As I opened the slow cooker, I thought the gammon had a weird skin on it. Then as I lifted it out I realised the skin went all the way around.
‘I called my mum, as you do, and she told me it was the plastic. I couldn’t believe it, I was so gutted. I was starving.
‘I had soaked it, poured a load of honey over it and slow cooked it but I never realised it had a layer around the outside.
‘My mum did say she didn’t think we should eat it but we did eat it and we’re still alive. I took the plastic off, poured some more honey over it and it tasted normal to be honest.
Laurensaid she is now questioning her kitchen skills after her gammon blunder, but plans to cook another pork joint for Christmas. Pictured: Lauren stood with partner Sean Makepeace, 30, daughter Matilda Mackey, seven, (front left) and daughter Delilah Makepeace, five months
‘It probably would have been better if I’d taken the plastic off before cooking but at least it didn’t ruin dinner completely.’
Lauren said she had previously considered herself to be a ‘good cook’ but her gammon blunder left her questioning her abilities in the kitchen.
She plans on cooking another pork joint for Christmas and said: ‘With the gammon, my partner just acted like this is the normal type of thing I would do.
‘I suppose I have had a few incidents of things sticking to pans or putting things on the hob forgetting it’s still on.
‘I posted about the gammon on Facebook and a few people found it disgusting, one person told me I needed a trip to Specsavers.
‘I have had some people tell me you can actually cook them with the plastic on to hold it together but I don’t think you’re supposed to season the plastic.’