Planning A Holiday Feast: Truffles? Caviar? Or Luxurious Jamon Iberico De Bellota?

“Ta ta ta TAM, ta ta ta TAM!” sang the Grasp. It seemed like a percussion class, however as a substitute of banging on drums, Raúl Garrido, 35, slicked again black hair and tweed vest over his white button down, was stroking a pig haunch together with his knife. Every beat produced an ideal petal of Jamón 100% Ibérico de Bellota, the top-notch Spanish ham that appears to have turn out to be the brand new caviar. We’ve gone from movie star cooks to starred pastry cooks after which mixologists. Is the subsequent step, the movie star ham carver?

The query appeared well timed since many high quality eating eating places resembling Gabriel Kreuther in New York, Alinea in Chicago and Thomas Keller’s in California now function freshly sliced Jamón 100% Ibérico de Bellota on the identical degree as truffles and champagne.

I’d first tasted this scrumptious dry-cured ham a number of years in the past once I visited the village of Jabugo in Southwestern Spain the place Cinco Jotas, one of many main purveyors of Jamón Ibérico, is headquartered. Within the surrounding space, I hiked by means of the forest the place black pigs roam amongst oak timber and rosemary bushes. Chatting with the farmers, I discovered that the pigs spend their lives within the fields, gorging on acorns when they’re in season—certainly one of a number of keys behind the ham’s style, a singular mixture of earthy and nutty. 

The panorama on this a part of Spain, about two hours north of Seville by automobile, is beautiful, woodsy, and Mediterranean, however sitting down with Raúl Garrido again in New York, I reminisced in regards to the man-made cellars in Jabugo the place rows and rows of pig haunches rolled in salt, breathe within the mountain air as they slowly mature, generally for so long as 5 years, into Jamón 100% Ibérico de Bellota (that means acorn).

The precision of the maturation course of is totally artisanal. The “cellars” in Jabugo are above floor and there are not any equipment tweaking the temperature or the humidity degree of the rooms. Solely the few “cellar masters” determine when to open the home windows and the way a lot, when to show the hanging hams and when to confirm (with urgent fingers) whether or not the haunches are prepared for the world.

“Only one% of Spanish ham can legally be known as Jamón 100% Ibérico de Bellota,” he defined. “However individuals assume that something known as Jamón is the true factor.” 

In reality, most Spanish producers combine varied breeds with the black Ibérico to maximise their outputs, however Cinco Jotas is the one firm whose merchandise come solely from the pure black pigs consumed acorns. Commercially that interprets right into a black label and the appellation pata negra. Sadly, the USDA necessities demand that the black hooves be minimize earlier than the legs are shipped to the US.

As we speak, a complete leg prices $1,399 and doesn’t embody the stand that holds the ham and facilitates the carving. Eating places often cost $30 per ounce however extra typically now, diners who plan personal occasions require a grasp carver on website. Mr. Garrido was already a widely known grasp carver when he was employed by Cinco Jotas 5 years in the past, however now, he’s developed fairly a following. 

Dashing round city, two pig legs wrapped into smooth, black circumstances and worn over his shoulders, he brings to thoughts a tennis participant late for a match. That evening at Le Pavillon, he first cuts by means of the pores and skin, then removes the yellow fats that protects the prized components earlier than tasting the meat.

“I savor it as I might an previous sherry,” he says, “I style the forest and the cellar, the terroir of the ham.”