Comments on: Why I love my mother-in-law and buying ham in Spain

By: Graeme

Graeme — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:08:29 +0000

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.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:15:21 +0000

Hi Mike,

I think youtube is the best place to start, or google, I think there are some demo’s on there! Ben

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 15:14:41 +0000

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?

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 15:27:44 +0000

No English at all I’m afraid!

By: ValenciaSon

ValenciaSon — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:07:26 +0000

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

By: Marina

Marina — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:38:02 +0000

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.

By: Graeme

Graeme — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:22:07 +0000

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.

By: Marina

Marina — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:39:29 +0000

Chris, I guess that a reasonable price for a very fine ham should be about 350 â‚¬ – 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.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 09:48:48 +0000

Leftbanker – glad you find NFS useful – and I think your proposed career could be extremely lucrative!

By: flexichick

flexichick — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 22:26:22 +0000

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.