Jamón, Jamón!

Andreu Xarcutería en L'illa, Barcelona

The only thing stopping me from being a vegetarian is ham. And not just any ol' ham but Spanish ham or jamón. And not just ANY ol' jamón but the jamón ibérico de bellota- star of hams and NEVER to be confused with its Italian cousin, the 'prosciutto', on pain of death via stoning or flaying, you choose. I could eat this for breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner... God bless Spain!

This website will tell you all that you never knew you wanted to know about jamón. 

The Spanish are brilliant at cured meats especially from pork - a very European food tradition coming from the yearly 'matanza' where a pig or pigs were killed and the whole family partook in making sure each and every part of the animal was either cured or cooked to last a whole year till the next killing season. 



Yup, you will see legs of hams hanging blatantly in many eateries and carving a leg is a particular art form with competitions too! The really good places will always hand carve their jamón, ALWAYS. 

Pau Claris, 190, Barcelona

Most, if not all bars and many restaurants will serve jamón but, don't be fooled as it will be a very mediocre sort of jamón, which is usually drier, harder and with very white, solid fat and a slightly bitter aftertaste. When you eat a good quality jamón, the taste is SO different; the meat is juicier, the fat will be semi transparent and it will coat your mouth, retaining the wonderful flavour until you take a sip of your wine/ beer/cava...

You can have this jamón with beer........                    

Mauri, Barcelona

 ....with a cold glass of wine..

Ven Ven, Barcelona

 ...in a delicious baguette...

Enrique Tomás, Barcelona

    ...on, a coca ( a Catalan bread)

The purists will argue with the Catalans that jamón, if to be served on bread, must have the bread ONLY drizzled in olive oil- basta! The Catalans will ignore this and proceed to put the jamón on bread with tomato or 'pan amb tomaquet' and only then drizzle it with olive oil. Which do I prefer? I am all for 'pan amb tomaquet' but if the jamón is a damn fine one, I really don't want to be tasting tomato - just a good crunchy bread, the almost bitter taste of a virgin olive oil and the jamón - mmmmmm 

Here is a funny thing about the Spanish :-D For many years, I taught English and it always amused me how my students just couldn't differentiate the words 'jam' and 'ham' - understandable as their 'j' is pronounced like our 'h' but with a rasp. 

It rains in 

The Plains

of Spain

where people eat ham

for breakfast

and Jam

for their main