What greater expression of affection can there be than a present of a whacking great leg of ham? I’m obviously in the mother-in-law’s good books these days! This is actually a paletilla de jamon iberico, the front leg of an acorn fed Iberian boar, that spent some time wondering around the woods and fields of Guijuelo, near Salamanca, before ending up in our kitchen. The rear leg, or jamon, is larger, and lasts too long for our tastes – the two months of constant ham eating it will take to get through our paletilla is plenty for us!
Buying a ham in Spain: there are three places you are almost guaranteed to get a good leg of ham in Spain. The first is in the small town of Guijuelo (map), just south of Salamanca, where the main street has one shop after another full of exquisite hams, chorizos, lomos – everything any self-respecting carnivore could want from a pig! Combine your ham buying mission with a drive from Salamanca down to Extremadura, taking in the wild Sierra de la Peña Francesa on the way if you can.
The second name on the tip of every hamophiles tounge is Jabugo (map), a tiny town in the Sierra de Aracena, about 100 kilometres north of Huelva. Once again the quiet Andaluz town is dominated by jamon-sellers, including the famous 5J brand. Here, however, the ham is something of a footnote to the stunning scenery of the surrounding Sierra. Cork forests, wild flowers, fields of grazing fighting bulls – the highlight is the white hilltop town of Almonaster La Real (map), with its 10th Century Moorish mosque. N.B. the ham from Jabugo has a slightly stronger taste than that from Guijuelo.
Perhaps the best place to pick up a ham in big towns like Madrid and Barcelona is El Corte Ingles superstore. There’s usually a food section in the basement of the bigger branches, where they will guarentee you a decent-tasting leg of ham and even peel the first layers of tough skin away for you (I am not usually a fan of El Corte Ingles, but apparently they will replace hams that are too salty/not great quality). If you are travelling by air later, ask about vacuum packing before you make a purchase, and remember that some countries won’t let you bring ham through customs. Pick up a jamonero from the kitchen department while you are there, it’s the big wooden vice used to hold the ham in place while cutting.
A word on price: the paletilla in the photo above cost around 100 euros (weighing in at 5 kilos) from El Corte Ingles, it should be a little cheaper at source. The jamon (back leg) is more expensive per kilo, as there is a greater proportion of meat to bone in the overall weight. Finally, jamon de bellota (only fed on acorns in the final months before slaughter) is more expensive, and far nicer, than jamon de recebo (where the pigs also eat commercial feed in the final months).
For more on ham in Spanish see como cortar un jamon and the Spanish wikipedia. Any more questions on ham?
Graeme
20 Feb 07 at 2:47 pm
“Any more questions on ham?”
Just one – are you sure you don’t need some help with it?
Ben
20 Feb 07 at 3:43 pm
I’ll let you know
Edith
20 Feb 07 at 8:47 pm
Spanish ham is the very best! I also like parma ham from Italy, though, but I don’t buy parma any more because those poor pigs are transported all over Europe in appalling conditions. So it’s jamón from Spain for me.
MikeF
20 Feb 07 at 11:51 pm
Ben, you must be popular! I usually get the “best morcillas on the planet” (my partner swears this is true) from my suegra. Of course they come from her local store in Zaragoza where the jamón isn’t bad either.
Ben
21 Feb 07 at 12:16 am
I’ve obviously done something right, I know!
Chris H
21 Feb 07 at 2:03 am
This looks like it must be “la pata negra” jamón. I heard that was the best when I was in Spain. La pata negra used to cost like 80.000 pesetas al kilo. Does this sound right?
flexichick
21 Feb 07 at 3:10 am
Words cannot even express how envious I am!
I wish I could get this stuff smuggled into NYC.
My friend works for Iberia and she said not to even bother trying. That said, I may just stuff one down my pants next time I leave Spain and see what happens
Esteban
21 Feb 07 at 11:50 am
“… those poor pigs are transported all over Europe in appalling conditions. So it’s jamón from Spain for me”
Yes, its true. If our pigs travel then its 2 at a time in an air-conditioned limousine.
Ben
21 Feb 07 at 1:11 pm
Chris, I’ll get Marina to answer too, but the price you mention would probably apply in delicatessens or bars, where the ham is always crazily expensive – 100 grammes can cost around 16 euros these days in a bar or restaruant. Crazy when we got so much for 100 euros!
Ben
21 Feb 07 at 1:11 pm
Flexichick – something tells me they may notice!
Graeme
21 Feb 07 at 2:37 pm
My best hams have been from Extremadura, someone from there told me a few years back that it is the same sierra as Jabugo, and the same pigs – but at a lower price. I’ve never been disappointed with any I have bought there, and the same goes for the lomo they make too.
flexichick
21 Feb 07 at 4:39 pm
Comment from Ben
Time: February 21, 2007, 1:11 pm
Flexichick – something tells me they may notice!
Well, if I were a man, I’d say “I’m just excited to be back home”
leftbanker
21 Feb 07 at 8:34 pm
This sort of ham never makes it to the U.S. I am leaning towards a life of crime as a jamontraficante. It shouldn’t set off any metal detectors at the airports but stuffing a 5 kilo pig leg down the front of my pants may present problems I can’t predict this early in my new career.
I think my book about Spain will be called something like, “I came for the wine; I stayed for the swine.”
As a recent immigrant I find your site helpful and always entertaining.
flexichick
21 Feb 07 at 11:26 pm
Leftbanker -
Should you decide to switch careers, I’ll be your first client.
When my friend returns to Madrid, there is a customs agent they call “Lady Beef”. “Lady Beef” has a remarkable knack for uncovering smuggled beef (they buy steaks in Argentina, etc) and the food is confiscated and thrown into a large garbage big.
I’d bet money that whenever Lady Beef’s shift is over there is a big ole barbeque.
Ben
22 Feb 07 at 10:48 am
Leftbanker – glad you find NFS useful – and I think your proposed career could be extremely lucrative!
Marina
22 Feb 07 at 5:39 pm
Chris, I guess that a reasonable price for a very fine ham should be about 350 € – which is nearly 60.000 Pts. But I’m sure that if you buy a large (more than 8 Kg) “5 J” you would pay more than that.
Graeme, I know that all the area that covers from Salamanca down to Huelva, containing part of Extremadura, is all very good for ham. However I’ve never bought an extremeño ham… do you get yours locally or you buy them in Madrid??? Can you give us advice of where to get it?
Thanks,
Marina.
Graeme
28 Feb 07 at 2:22 pm
I have had hams on 2 or 3 occasions from a company called Japasur which has a factory in Higuera la Real in the south of Extremadura – all have been very good, which is not necessarily to say they are better than other providers. The village of Montanchez is famed for its hams and other embutidos, but I haven’t tried them.
Marina
28 Feb 07 at 2:38 pm
I guess that in the next few months we should go down to Extremadura to do a bit of ham tasting and podcasting with a stop in Montanchez of course!
Thanks for the information.
Marina.
ValenciaSon
2 Mar 07 at 12:07 pm
Ben, does your mother-in-law speak English? I want to hook her up with mine to see if her gift-giving practices can rub off on her
Ben
2 Mar 07 at 4:27 pm
No English at all I’m afraid!
Mike
25 Dec 07 at 4:14 pm
I was wondering if you knew about any special technique used to cut the ham… is your guess as good as mine or is there a specific way it should be prepared in order to really appreciate it?
Ben
27 Dec 07 at 6:15 pm
Hi Mike,
I think youtube is the best place to start, or google, I think there are some demo’s on there! Ben
Graeme
28 Dec 07 at 3:08 pm
Cut it very thin is the basic rule. If it’s a whole ham and you’re not going to eat it in a hurry then start with the side that has less fat. You should have a long and very sharp ham cutting knife and ideally a jamonero to hold the beast in place. Start by removing the skin on both sides from the area where you are going to cut. I think you’ll find, if you are right handed, that you always cut from right to left if you don’t want pieces of ham to go flying around the room.