Princely piggy goes to market
Juliet Glass reports.
| More 'Front Burner' articles in this issue |
| Let them sew cake! |
| Don't eat the food! |
| Splatter free |
| Branching out |
| Pint and shoot |
| Honey, I shrunk the chef |
La Alberca, Spain—If you are among the legions lined up for the arrival of Spain's cultishly coveted, scaldingly pricey salt-cured jamón Ibérico—from free-range black-footed Ibérico pigs—your wait is finally over. Lusted after for its arousing aroma and flavor and deep red hue, it's considered to be among the finest cured ham in the world (aficionados insist it's the finest). The family-run Embutidos Fermín, based in La Alberca, Spain, is the first company to get USDA approval to import cured Spanish pork products; until recently all pork products imported from Spain—including Ibérico's pedestrian cousin jamón Serrano—derived from pigs raised and slaughtered elsewhere in Europe before being cured in Spain. Partners in the newly formed company, Fermín USA, are Rogers International (a niche importer of exclusive European foodstuffs based in Portland, Maine) and Washington, D.C.'s resident authority in all things Spanish, José Andrés, executive chef/co-owner of Jaleo, where the first Ibérico products debuted as tapas in July. Starting this summer, thinner cuts that cure faster, such as lomo (loin), hit the U.S. market. Paletas (shoulders) should be arriving in the spring, while the thicker jamones (hams) still have a year of curing to go.
What sets black-footed Ibérico pigs apart is twofold. First, this breed, indigenous to Spain, is capable of storing extremely high levels of fat within its muscles. This means that its meat, ribboned with loads of intramuscular, flavorful fat, is meltingly tender. Second, during the fattening period the pigs are allowed to range free in the cork and holm oak trees of western Spain (known as the dehasa,), pursuing an acorn-rich diet that imparts an almost lasciviously sweet and pungent nuttiness to its flesh.
This rarified world of premium Spanish hams falls into two quality levels, Ibérico and Ibérico de bellota (literally, "of acorns"). Pigs born in the spring spend their prime fattening period in the ensuing winter months (known as the montanera) when the dehasa is thick with fallen acorns. All pigs fattened up during this period, along with the products made from them, bear the additional distinction—and heftier prices hovering at $100 per pound retail—of falling into the de bellota, classification. "The main difference is in intensity and depth of flavor. The Ibérico ham has a very rich nutty cured flavor, not overly salty, with a good amount of sweetness to it and an earthiness too," explains Taylor Griffin, president of Rogers International and director of Fermín USA. "Ibérico de bellota has a greater melting mouthfeel, and the nuttiness and sweetness from the acorns is more pronounced." Or as Andrés rhapsodizes, "If you have the bellota, it's so good you want to cry."
Unlike its Italian counterpart, prosciutto, exactingly machine cut into long thin slices and eaten either as is or as a component in a treasury of dishes, jamón Ibérico is traditionally sliced by hand into squarish bite-sized pieces (Andrés will be conducting slicing seminars around the country) and consumed at room temperature on its own, unadorned, as Spanish King Juan Carlos I does, popping it into the mouth with pinched fingers in lieu of a fork.
