Pork · The café classic, done properly
Gammon Steak with a Fried Egg and Parsley Butter
There's a reason gammon, egg and chips has never left the menu: when the gammon is thick-cut and properly cured, it's a genuinely great plate of food. The trick is to snip the rind so the steak doesn't cup in the pan, render the fat until it's golden, and keep the middle juicy. A sharp parsley butter does the job the pineapple ring never quite managed.
Method
Beat the softened butter with the parsley, lemon zest, a squeeze of juice, the mustard and plenty of black pepper. Roll into a log in greaseproof paper and chill.
Snip the rind and fat of each gammon steak at 2cm intervals with scissors; this stops the steaks curling as they cook.
Heat the oil in a heavy pan over a medium-high heat. Cook the gammon for 3–4 minutes a side until golden, holding the fat edge against the pan at the end to crisp it.
Rest the gammon on warm plates. In the same pan, fry the eggs in the gammon fat until the whites are set and the yolks still runny.
Top each steak with a fried egg and a thick slice of the parsley butter, and let it melt over everything. Serve with chips.
Ben's Tip
Snipping the rind is the whole game. An uncut gammon steak domes in the pan, cooks unevenly and never crisps; thirty seconds with scissors fixes all three.
To Drink
A dry cider is the honest match, but if you want wine, a lightly off-dry Chenin Blanc handles the cure's saltiness nicely.
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