Jamon in Spain – types, prices and how to choose. Jamon – what you need to know about the Spanish delicacy

When it comes to Spain, many people think about the culinary traditions of this country. And this is not surprising, because the Spaniards know a lot about delicious food. For example, a prominent representative of traditional Spanish cuisine is jamon, which not many people have ever tried using an authentic recipe. And yet, jamon - what is it, and can you cook it at home? Let's try to figure out this very interesting question.

Spanish jamon is a real delicacy that is quite expensive. It serves not just as a dish, but in its homeland it is also an interior decoration in many catering establishments.

The hind legs of pork are used to prepare it. First they are salted, then dried and dried. But all this must be done only under certain conditions, strictly observing temperature and air humidity.

The very name of the dish comes from the word jamon, which translates as “ham.” Interestingly, a special breed of pig is raised for real jamon.

How to make Spanish jamon

To more clearly imagine what kind of meat this is, you need to find out how jamon is made in its homeland. This is a fairly long process, although it does not require a large number of ingredients.

To begin with, a special type of pig is raised, suitable for jamon. There are only two of them: one is elite, and the other is more “democratic”.
After the carcass is slaughtered, it must be dehydrated. This is done using a large amount of salt, which is completely covered with meat. The process lasts for different times, which is calculated on the basis that one kilogram of “wet” carcass will require one day of dehydration.
Upon completion of this process, the carcass is washed and waited until it dries naturally.
The resulting meat is sent to a room with a temperature of five degrees for a long time - from 9 to 12 months. During this period, it becomes dried and acquires a certain taste and aroma.
Next, the meat is tested for quality, its class and further aging period are determined.
The jamon is hung and the temperature is gradually raised so that it ripens to the desired state.
And the last stage is testing with a needle made from cow bone. Several holes are made in it, which allow you to see and feel the degree of readiness.

Cooking at home

If you still decide to cook jamon, then this recipe will help you do it as correctly as possible. But be prepared that you will have to spend a lot of time getting such a delicacy.

Required Products:

pork ham weighing approximately 4 kilograms;
good sea salt - twice the weight of meat.

Cooking process:

Clean the meat thoroughly from excess fat, rinse, dry and completely sprinkle with salt, placing it in a deep container. Leave for two weeks.
After this period of time, wash off the adhered salt, shape the ham and hang it in a ventilated area where it is possible to regulate the temperature, gradually raising it. This is necessary to evaporate the liquid.
For final drying, the jamon is transferred to a dark room and left for about 12 months. After which it can be consumed.

What do they eat with?

It turns out that jamon can be eaten in different ways and it is very important to serve it correctly in order to maximize its taste.

Quite often, jamon is cut into thin slices and served as an independent snack. It reveals itself especially well in combination with fruit and wine.
This dried meat is ideal for olives, strawberries, soft cheese, grapes, pears, figs, arugula and asparagus.
You can thinly slice the bread, rub it with tomatoes, coat it with a little olive oil, add salt and place slices of jamon on top.
One of the most popular appetizers is pieces of meat, melon and pineapple placed together on a plate.
Small slices of jamon are added to salads, soups and even omelettes. The best option is cold gazpacho with jamon.

Cooking mistakes and how to avoid them

To get a truly high-quality product, you must follow the technology of its preparation, without making any mistakes. Let's look at the most popular problems that may arise on the way to obtaining jamon.

Never cut off the entire skin from the ham. It is this that protects the meat from severe drying out. Remove only part.
Remove excess fat. If there is too much of it, the ham will not be salted, since the salt simply will not be able to penetrate all the way to the bone.
Use only coarse sea salt. It draws out moisture well. Don't be afraid if white spots appear on the surface, this is normal, this is how salt works.
Take care to protect the ham. During cooking there should be no cuts or punctures of the skin, otherwise this may lead to complete damage to the entire piece.
Treat darkened areas with a cotton pad with alcohol, but do not cut them off.

It is better to start pickling at the end of winter. If you start this in a warmer time, the meat will quickly dry out, darken and the salt will not be able to penetrate inside. The result will be a not very high quality product.

Prosciutto and jamon: what's the difference?

It would seem that prosciutto and jamon are almost the same thing. But in fact, these are two completely different types of meat, although both are dried.

The first difference is in the country of origin. Jamon is a Spanish meat, while prosciutto is Italian.
Meat also differs significantly in taste, because pigs are not raised under the same conditions. In Spain, animals are fed acorns, and in Italy, mainly corn or fruit. Livestock nutrition directly affects the color of meat and its taste. So, Spanish jamon will be a darker shade.
The production technology also differs. The jamon is salted indoors and comes out dry. This process takes a very long time, sometimes up to 48 months, which immediately increases the cost of the final product. Prosciutto is salted under normal conditions only with maintaining moisture and no longer than 14 months. As a result, the meat is tender and juicy, and its price is much lower.

Jamon is truly a very tasty meat, but its high cost makes it inaccessible to many. If you are not afraid of the long drying time of the ham, then be sure to try preparing such a delicacy yourself, saving a lot of money.

National Spanish dish - jamon is a whole pork hind leg that has been marinated, cured and dried. The recipe for this meat delicacy has existed for more than 2 thousand years. For many centuries, jamon has enjoyed enormous popularity not only in its homeland, but also in other European countries. For example, dried meat was part of the mandatory diet of Roman legionnaires and patricians; it was consumed by both the rich and the poor.

Special taste qualities jamon acquires after salting in a special marinade for two weeks, and also thanks to a certain method drying and drying. But the main secret of this dish lies in the diet of pigs and their breed. There are two types of jamon. First - Serrano, is made from the meat of pigs that have been fed with forage. For the second - Pata Negra, breeds of black pigs are selected whose diet consisted exclusively of acorns. Such a diet allows you to provide meat with optimal density and fat content.

The Spanish delicacy is usually cut into very thin slices. As a rule, it is included in the menu of the best restaurants, so the manner in which the cured ham is presented is of great importance. This is usually done by a specially trained specialist using a special tool.

Despite the fact that pork is considered a very high-calorie and unhealthy food product, scientists claim many beneficial properties of this delicacy. It is especially worth highlighting the type of meat Iberico, rich oleic acid, which is an effective preventative against cardiovascular diseases.

In addition to oleic acid, the Spanish delicacy contains many antioxidants, and the structure of its fatty acids fully corresponds to the monounsaturated acids of vegetable oils. Therefore, most nutritionists consider jamon a natural and healthy food product. According to experts, it is enough to eat 2-3 servings of the delicacy per week, if one serving is equal to 100 grams.

Jamon - natural source not only fats, but also protein with B vitamins. Moreover, it is rich in the minerals phosphorus, iron, potassium and calcium. Also, the Spanish delicacy is rich in such a substance as tyrosine, which is formed under the influence of the drying process on proteins. With the help of tyrosine, the human body can easily remove accumulated subcutaneous fats and stimulate the adrenal glands. Jamon is also useful for normal functioning pancreas. And with regular consumption of pork ham, overall blood circulation improves.

Harm the body can suffer from excessive amounts of meat delicacies consumed. It is also contraindicated in the presence of individual intolerance to pork, high cholesterol and diabetes. And nutritionists do not recommend getting carried away with jamon for people prone to gaining excess weight.

Ham - amon (dry-cured Spanish ham) is a delicacy and delicacy. National treasure of Spain. Jamon is the basis of Iberian cuisine, translated from Spanish as ham. Pork ham is salted, dried and cured under strictly defined conditions, which ultimately leads to the creation of one of the best and most famous meat delicacies in the world. Jamón contains virtually no cholesterol and is the most consumed meat product in Spain.

Origin and history
There is a legend that during the period of Christian conquest of lands on the Iberian Peninsula (the first half of the 8th century), pig's legs hung around the house served as a talisman; not a single Muslim could even get close to pork. The legs hung in the sun and gradually became jamon. Later, when the persecution of Muslims and Jews began and their conversion to Christianity, those who were baptized were tested by being forced to eat pork during their weekly communion. But cooking pig in the temple was inconvenient. And then the jamon came in handy. In churches, along with the wafer and wine, they gave a piece of jamon, and the best proof that you were not a Jew or a Muslim was a pork leg hanging over the door to “dry”.
In fact, the history of Hamon goes back more than two thousand years. And large stone buildings dating back to pre-Roman times are silent witnesses to the antiquity of this product. The Spanish Jamon itself enjoyed good fame even among the ancient Romans and was mentioned in the letters of such important figures of that time as Emperor Diocletianus and the war poet and historian Marcus Varro. In those ancient times, the distant ancestors of the Spaniards took with them on the road dry-cured ham of Iberian pork, healthy and nutritious, and also shelf-stable for a long time. There is an opinion that Christopher Columbus was able to discover America also because he was able to provide his expedition with products, of which Hamon, unpretentious to storage conditions, was the basis.

What is jamon made from?

Genuine jamon is not only a special method of salting pork, but also special breeds of pigs, as well as special methods of fattening them, the conditions for which have developed in the unique ecosystem of some regions of Spain. On mountain pastures, in the groves of cork oaks, there is not much grass, but there are acorns,
rich in oleic acids - in abundance. Moreover, the acorns of Spanish cork oaks are much sweeter than Russian ones. And so that the pigs don’t spoil
The roots of these noble trees are pierced: thanks to this “piercing”, digging the earth becomes very difficult.

There are two main types of jamon. They differ in the method and length of preparation, and the most significant difference between Serrano jamon and Iberico jamon is the breed of pigs and their diet. Externally, they can be distinguished by the color of the hoof: the Serrano is white, the Iberico is black.
The best jamon - Iberico (aka Pata Negra, "black leg") - is made from the meat of black pigs of the Iberian breed, which were fed on special diets: exclusively acorn - beyota (Bellota) or combining acorns with forage - recebo (Recebo) . Black pigs even have black hooves - hence the Pata Negra. This is exactly the product supplied to the court of the King of Spain.
The Spaniards export it, unfortunately, reluctantly. They prefer to eat themselves. The cost of the best varieties of Iberico jamon can reach 1000 euros per 1 kg.

Mode of production

All you need to produce Jamon is fresh pork, salt, air and time. It sounds simple, but professional production faces significant technological challenges. Producing Ham is not difficult, but producing high quality Ham is a very difficult process. Now production is based on the latest technologies, in hygienic conditions, which artificially reproduce all stages of the process, allowing us to always maintain continuous production, constant quality and optimal environmental conditions. These stages are associated with traditional methods used by families or small producers in areas that traditionally raised pigs. Hamon was produced at home over many months. Climate was an essential part of the production process, which began with the cold winter months and ended with mild summer temperatures. The process for making Jamon Iberico and Jamon Serrano are similar and have the same steps, but Jamon Iberico takes much longer to dry.
For the Spaniards, cooking jamon is a real tradition, and in order to raise pigs and obtain meat, they must obtain special permission from the state. By the way, permission was given only to six Spanish provinces that have the appropriate equipment. After cutting, the meat is covered with pure sea salt in the proportions of one kilogram of salt per day of storage. The meat is left for about two weeks to absorb the salt. After this, it is washed in water of a certain temperature to rid the product of excess salt, then the ham should be dried and hung in the same room in which it was soaked in salt.
To ripen, the jamon is moved to another room, where it is stored for about a year and during this time it acquires an extraordinary taste and aroma. The ham is stored under special conditions in the basement, while it is constantly monitored and the readiness of the delicacy is checked. After ripening, jamon loses almost 40% of its weight, and the entire process of its creation takes an average of two years.
Jamon is served in accordance with certain traditions: the meat is thinly sliced with a sharp knife, and to protect the ham from drying out, the cut points are covered with fat. Experts advise tasting jamon at a temperature of at least 20 degrees - it is in such conditions that you can feel the special taste of the product, which has been formed over the course of two years.

Harm or benefit?

Although it has been scientifically proven that, in general, jamon fat is more beneficial to health than harmful, the fear of consuming extra calories prevents many from consuming this product. However, the head of the nutrition department of the Clinical Hospital of Madrid, Juan Pedro Maranez, states: “I would not forbid jamon to any person on a diet.” Dr. Maranhes recommends eating a 100g serving of jamon three times a week. If you don’t mix jamon with alcohol or bread, you won’t be able to gain weight. In this case, jamon should be consumed as a second course, replacing meat with it, and not adding it to the amount of food that you usually eat. “Jamon does not contain excessive amounts of calories,” says Maranhes. Compared to the amount of carbohydrates contained in pasta or vegetables, which are less processed, ham has more calories, but “its fat and its proteins are digested more slowly, so you gain less weight,” continues the doctor. “It is not contraindicated for patients suffering from diabetes,” he assures.
However, the presence of fat, which is beneficial for the cardiovascular system, is not the only valuable quality of Iberian jamon. Experts also highlight the presence of iron and vitamin E in this product. It is made from pigs that grow up in freedom, move around a lot and therefore get exercise. These loads contribute to the fact that the muscles of animals contain a larger amount of pigment responsible for the red color of blood, similar to our hemoglobin. The rich red color of the blood is an indicator of the amount of iron contained in the meat. And the more iron it contains, the more we get.
In this sense, Dr. Kawa’s remark is very important: “The iron contained in meat is more accessible than that found in plant foods; our body absorbs it better and can absorb large quantities.”
Iberian ham contains a large amount of antioxidants, although it is not a source of them. Residents of Spain have long considered eating dry-cured ham as a means of prolonging youthful skin. Spaniards eat several slices of jamon in the evening, replacing the traditional dinner. This allows you to maintain skin elasticity and, oddly enough, stay in shape for many years.
The head of the Nutrition Service at the Clinical Hospital of Madrid concludes: “Jamon is a healthy element of the diet, its side effects are minimal, and the ratio of fats and proteins is balanced.”

How to eat jamon?

From the moment of the first incision, the leg can be eaten for four months, provided that it is the part being used that is cleaned, and not the entire leg. Ham meat is raw and, like any living product, is subject to oxidation. To protect the cut meat, simply cover it. To do this, you can use several options at once. Cut lard or skin, a clean cotton towel will do; you can grease the cut with olive oil or cover it with parchment moistened with it. It is important not to let this area dry out. In extreme cases, you don’t have to cover it with anything, just after 4 months it will be tasty, but very expensive dry pork.

Jamon is not just a national dish, but a real legend of Spanish cooking. It is produced throughout the country, excluding coastal areas, has only one basic preparation technology and has an incredible taste that will forever be remembered by those who have tried it once.

What is jamon

Jamon is a pork ham prepared using a special salting and drying technology. It is often called ham, although at first glance, dried meat has nothing in common with it. The fact is that calling something that is sold on Russian shelves under this name ham is not entirely correct. For example, you can easily find chicken ham, turkey ham, beef, etc. on sale. But initially this term meant only salted, dry-cured pork ham. Which, in general, is Spanish jamon (the name translates from Spanish as “ham”).

This dish is made strictly from the hind leg of pork - its analogue is prepared from the front leg, which is called paleta. For objective reasons, the pallet contains less meat, so it costs slightly less. Jamon comes in two varieties: Iberico and Serano. For the first, pigs of the same name, a rare and unique breed, are used, characterized by a very soft and delicate texture of the meat. For jamon, serranos are half-breed pigs or even outbred ones.

Accordingly, the first type costs much more.

Jamon production technology

Preparation of jamon occurs in six stages:

Salting. After cutting the carcass, excess fat is trimmed from the ham and thickly covered with sea salt. In this form, the hams are left in a cool room for two weeks, during which time excess moisture is removed from the meat.
Flushing. The ham is washed with clean running water to remove excess salt and then hung vertically.
Uniform salting. So that some parts of the jamon do not remain too salty, and others, on the contrary, not salted enough, the meat is placed in special chambers with certain set temperatures. There, the salt is evenly distributed throughout the ham. This process takes quite a long time, about two months.
Drying. In a suspended state, the hams are left for some time so that the subcutaneous fat is absorbed into the muscle mass. Drying takes from 6 to 9 months.
Maturation. The jamon is sent to cellars with a specially created microclimate, where it will remain until fully ripe. Surprisingly, to make the best jamon, the entire production process takes up to three years.
Taking a sample. The last step is to tell the producer whether the meat is ready. To do this, it is pierced with a thin bone needle. Readiness is determined by smell.

When you find out how jamon is made, how painstaking, complex and lengthy this process is, you cease to be surprised by the unique taste of the dish.

Video about how jamon is made

How much does jamon cost and where to buy it?

Of course, it is best to buy jamon in Spain, because producers in this country are responsible before the law for the excellent quality of their products. Costs can vary widely, but on average the price of a good sized pork leg ranges from 150 to 200 €, a leg usually weighing around 8 kg. Belotta jamon can cost up to 300 € per 1 kg. In its homeland, ham is sold almost everywhere - from small butcher shops to huge supermarkets, and is also served in almost any restaurant.

In Russia, jamon can be purchased in some delicatessen stores. It will cost from 6 to 15 thousand rubles. These are mainly varieties aged for 9-12 months.

Experts say that you should try jamon only in Spain. In addition, only there you can taste a truly fresh dish, and in a restaurant you can order not an eight-kilogram carcass, but a couple of tender slices, which will be much more profitable.

By the way, according to gourmets, if you are eating jamon for the first time, it does not matter at all whether you buy the cheapest or the most expensive piece - in any case, you will find it incredibly tasty.

Jamon and porciutto

In Italy, they produce an analogue of Spanish jamon called porsciutto, otherwise known as Parma ham. The main difference between jamon and porciutto is the aging time - porsciutto is rarely dried beyond 10-14 months. The structure of this ham is much softer and moister - this depends on the breed of pigs, on the type of feeding they receive and even, oddly enough, on climatic conditions. There are only two types of porciutto - crudo and cotto. The first is made in the same way as jamon, but the second is also boiled before salting and drying. This is how our familiar ham is produced.

To make real porsciutto, pigs are fed acorns and whey left over from Parmesan cheese instead of regular feed. Unlike jamon, when preparing porciutto, the meat is beaten after drying and covered with a layer of lard with salt and pepper - this prevents the product from drying out.

How to eat jamon and porciutto

The only difficulty in eating these products is that they must be cut into thin, translucent slices. A real Spaniard or Italian would never think of eating these dishes with bread, that is, in the understanding of tourists, “making a sandwich.” These are self-sufficient dishes whose taste is very easy to overpower. In restaurants in Spain and Italy, this meat is eaten with slices of ripe melon or figs - it is the combination of salty dried meat with sweet that gives an incredible taste effect.

A variety of recipes for preparing dried meat, in particular pork hams, can be found in the cuisines of almost all peoples of the world (of course, with the exception of those who do not eat meat at all). But only a few of the products obtained in this way managed to gain worldwide fame. And one of them is jamon.

Genuine jamon is not only a special method of salting pork, but also special breeds of pigs, as well as special methods of fattening them, the conditions for which have developed in the unique ecosystem of some regions of Spain. On mountain pastures and in cork oak groves there is not much grass, but acorns rich in oleic acids are abundant. Moreover, the acorns of Spanish cork oaks are much sweeter than Russian ones. And so that pigs do not spoil the roots of these noble trees, their snouts are pierced: thanks to this “piercing,” digging the earth becomes very difficult.

Best jamon - Iberico (Iberico, aka - Pata Negra, “black leg”) - made from the meat of black pigs of the Iberian breed, which were fattened on special diets: exclusively acorn - beyota (Bellota) or combining acorns with forage - resebo (Recebo). Black pigs even have black hooves - hence Pata Negra. This is exactly the product supplied to the court of the King of Spain. The Spaniards export it, unfortunately, reluctantly. They prefer to eat themselves.

Cheaper type of product - serrano (Serrano)- from the meat of white pigs, fed mainly on forage.

In addition to the jamon itself (ham, hind leg), there is also jamon delantero (Delantero), aka pallet (Paleta) that is, the front leg. A blade processed similarly to jamon is called lomo.

As with elite wines, “origin” is important for quality jamón: they also have a “designation controlled by origin”, in this case - Denominacion de Origen. This is a kind of quality mark that guarantees that the jamon is produced in a certain province in compliance with local standards. O must be indicated on the label of the finished jamon: Jamon de Huelva, Jamon de Teruel, Jamon de Trevelez, Cecina de Leon, Dehesa de Extremadura, Guijuelo…

There is such a tag with markings on every jamon. And just as a wine label indicates the area, vineyard, and vintage year, the jamon label contains information about the province, pasture, as well as the number of the pig, the weight of the leg before salting, the start date of the salting process, the timing of putting it in the chambers, and the duration of aging .

Marks of Excellence

A pig that is to become a high-quality ham must have at least 75% black Iberian blood. They feed her on a special diet, so that by the time she is slaughtered she gains a strictly defined weight. The pig lives on the pasture throughout the “acorn season” - from October 15 to February 15. And he lives very freely: no more than fifteen animals are allowed per hectare. Pigs that meet all the specified requirements are slaughtered before March 31, and the remaining pigs will never be able to become super jamon.

Cutting the carcass into hams and other parts that will later be used for sausage requires the skill of a sculptor. The ham should take on the “historical” V-shape. A piece of wool will certainly be left on it - this is a kind of sign of quality, evidence of the authenticity of the jamon from a black Iberian pig. Another sign, as we have already said, is a black hoof.

It will take many months for a fresh ham to become jamon. First of all, it must be properly salted. To do this, in the old fashioned way, layers of meat are sprinkled with layers of salt. How long it will take depends on the weight of the leg: previously it took two days for every kilogram, now it takes one, so modern jamon is less salty (this is perhaps the only deviation from ancient traditions). Then the salt is washed off, and after a couple of days, the future jamon is transferred to a room with a temperature of 3-6°C and high humidity - the meat becomes less and less wet and is salted more evenly. In the next chamber, the hams are already dried - the temperature there is gradually increased and the humidity is lowered.

Finally, the most crucial period begins - ripening. It is at this time that jamon acquires a unique taste and aroma. In special cellars, jamons, like good wines, wait in the wings. How long a jamon is destined to ripen depends not only on its weight, but also on the diet: a “mass” product ripens for about six months, high-quality “acorn” specimens - for a year or a year and a half (but sometimes more than three years).

It is interesting that two jamons from the meat of one pig, strange as it may sound, can have different density and taste - this also depends on which side the pig usually lay on. On the side where she lay most often, it is drier.

“When it comes out,” the jamon looks so bad that it’s even a pity to eat it. The Spaniards themselves love to hang ham in their kitchens. And in traditional Spanish jamonerias (this is at the same time a restaurant, a wine hall and a gastronomic store), pork ham is the basis of the menu and an integral part of the interior.

Cortadores and jamoneras

Ham does not remain a decoration for long - it is still eaten, because that is what it was prepared for. Eating is preceded by cutting. This is a whole ritual - spectacular and very difficult. Those who master this art are called cortadores. Jamon is cut on a special wooden stand - jamonere. This is a unique performance: a demonstration of the quality of jamon and the skill of the cortadora. Cortadora's tools are special knives with a long thin blade and a short hard one.

The ham is placed with the hoof up on the jamonera and “opened” with a knife with a short blade - an incision is made towards itself and the skin and fat are removed until the meat appears. Then the jamon is cut with a long knife into thin, almost transparent slices, no longer than 6-7 cm, with a small strip of fat along the edges. Where it is no longer possible to cut the ham thinly, you will again need a short knife - the remaining meat and bone will be useful for hot dishes, broths and soups.

Storing a ham at home (even if you have already started cutting it) is not difficult: you can hang it from the ceiling in the kitchen, and it will last up to a year and a half (a shoulder - up to a year), giving your home a Spanish flavor.

Jamon in national cuisine

In Spain, jamon is not even an object of worship, but something taken for granted. The biggest sales are before all secular and religious holidays - from Christmas to Valentine's Day. And during the periods between holidays, the Spaniards buy paleta and lomo with equal eagerness.

Classic jamon dish - jamon with melon(jamon con melon): A play on the contrasting combination of corned beef and sweet melon. Olives, greens, and cheeses perfectly highlight the taste of jamon. It is very good with vegetables - eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, cauliflower, green beans, as well as fried potatoes and pasta. Drinks served with the ham include dry red wine and beer (preferably, of course, Spanish).

Ham is a delicate creature: its slices literally melt in your mouth. Therefore, if you want to add it to a hot dish, you need to do this at the very last moment - so that the slightly melted fat imparts a unique salty taste to the dish.

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