Ham From Tennessee to Spain and Back

July 6, 2017 12:09 PM

Like country ham? How about jamon iberico?
posted by MovableBookLady (29 comments total)

I've been looking for American ham that's anything at all like jamón ibérico and failing. I'm quite familiar with Benton's ham and other fine American country hams. They are good. But they are different, rougher, they don't have the delicate glossy texture of jamón ibérico or prosciutto. They also don't have that funky flavor that reminds me of nothing else but great parmigiano cheese.

So I'm thrilled that one of the Bentons is interested in jamón ibérico! I also have to wonder if the difference in salting the article mentions isn't a key thing. The acorn finish on jamón ibérico is lovely but it's not essential; there's plenty of good jamón ibérico that isn't de bellota.

My new ham fascination comes from a recent trip to Portugal. They also make jamón ibérico that seems the same as Spanish to me. They tend to call it pata negra there. And it's amazing, but trying to get it in the United States costs 10x as much as it would locally.
posted by Nelson at 12:27 PM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

The black Alentejano pig is the Portuguese version.

Pata negra is usually the Spanish import.
posted by chavenet at 12:31 PM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I was introduced to jamon iberico by a Spanish friend who hosted me in Barcelona. However, my own favourite is Parma, on a multigrain bread with seeds. that reminds me... scribbles in grocery list
posted by infini at 12:32 PM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

There's a lovely little tapas bar up in Santa Fe that was my first experience with 1. Jamón, and 2. Sherry. And while I can't really recommend the latter (Just stick to port, mate), I'll certainly do so with the former.
posted by endotoxin at 12:33 PM on July 6, 2017

On a recent trip to Spain, the wife and I discovered that it's possible to survive for several days solely on jamón ibérico. The stuff is so ubiquitous there that it suggests two great mysteries: (1) why don't we have this over here, and (2) with such amazing raw material, why don't the Spanish make better sandwiches?
posted by Edgewise at 12:39 PM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

why don't the Spanish make better sandwiches?

Because they don't really understand bread.
posted by chavenet at 12:43 PM on July 6, 2017 [17 favorites]

The Whole Hog, Garden & Gun's new podcast series, did a great interview with the author of this article, telling the backstory of how it came together. It's episode 3, available here.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 12:56 PM on July 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

I love me some Iberico. Although, for country style, the ham biscuits at Mother's in New Orleans are afreakinmazing.
posted by jonmc at 1:07 PM on July 6, 2017

This caption for this photo: Oriol (left) and cure master Manuel Maldonado confer as Benton admires the ham racks...

...made me giggle. The piece also reminded me there is some chorizo ibérico in the fridge that MUST be eaten, post-haste.

This was fascinating. Thanks for posting it.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:08 PM on July 6, 2017

> I've been looking for American ham that's anything at all like jamón ibérico and failing. I'm quite familiar with Benton's ham and other fine American country hams. They are good. But they are different, rougher, they don't have the delicate glossy texture of jamón ibérico or prosciutto. They also don't have that funky flavor that reminds me of nothing else but great parmigiano cheese.

Do you not know about La Quercia?! Their prosciutto (all varieties) are really, really fantastic. And from Iowa.
posted by desuetude at 1:23 PM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Do you not know about La Quercia?! Their prosciutto (all varieties) are really, really fantastic. And from Iowa.

Sadly, they are not jamon iberico. For that, lacking a very high-end local deli indeed, you must pay $22 for 2 oz. here.
posted by praemunire at 1:30 PM on July 6, 2017

If we're talking ham, my favorite is San Daniele. It has a lot of depth and flavor. I love iberico but can't take too much of that glossy fattiness. Parma is weak and hammy.

The preto porco in Portugal is usually cut thick which may be why I am not a huge fan.

In all cases though it is best to get it freshly cut when it still has its own moisture. Thats how you get it in a Spanish bar. If you have only had packaged jamon/prosciutto, the difference is immense.

Because they don't really understand bread.

I was in Barcelona last week and had what was apparently slow-rise sourdough bread - airy and delicious. So bread is taking off. It was being used of course for Pan con Tomate.
posted by vacapinta at 1:44 PM on July 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

I will never fully recover from the time six or seven years ago that a spammer tried to sign up like fifteen different ham-related accounts to spam MetaFilter with. I love some good meat but every time I see "jamon iberico" I still get the twitches.
posted by cortex at 2:09 PM on July 6, 2017 [18 favorites]

why don't the Spanish make better sandwiches?

Because they don't really understand bread.

Actually, they really don't understand sandwiches at all. A sandwich here comes in three forms: 1) jamón ibérico on a dry baguette, or if you're lucky, with a drizzle of olive oil, 2) those disgusting white bread triangles from Rodilla, and 3) 100 Montaditos which I will not hear a word against and which aren't really sandwiches anyway, they're in their own category.

This is my pet subject, all of my friends are sick of hearing that if they would just let me make them a real BLT with good bread it will blow their fucking minds.
posted by lollymccatburglar at 2:26 PM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Is it a derail to bring the breads they have here in Finland which is what makes my ham taste so good? Open faced sandwiches of course, being all Nordic and all.

My bread she is so goodly translated and full of brass and seeds
posted by infini at 2:40 PM on July 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

I was in Barcelona last week and had what was apparently slow-rise sourdough bread - airy and delicious. So bread is taking off. It was being used of course for Pan con Tomate.

I had that 25 years ago - there is great bread in Spain, maybe they just don't like sandwiches? They have so much else to eat, at all times.
posted by mumimor at 3:10 PM on July 6, 2017

fifteen different ham-related accounts to spam MetaFilter with

spam, egg and spam, bacon egg and spam, spam spam spam baked beans and spam...
posted by Daily Alice at 3:24 PM on July 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

There's a nearby market here that sells Jamon Ibérico de Bellota, and there's one guy in the deli who always gives me a sample after he once talked to me about what makes it special. I never ask because we both know I'm only ever going to buy $5-6 of soppressata every month or two, and he's not always there, but whenever he is it feels like my birthday and Hanukkah and probably what Christmas feels like all rolled into one. I'm it really familiar with American ham but I think there are local ways to start exploring. For now at least I can read about it.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:35 PM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I love jamon iberico, but the price makes it purely a "my mother-in-law wanted to have this for Christmas treat"*

I love country ham, too, and it's much more reasonable, but a whole ham is such a production, and it would wind up being just for me. I dream, though.

*The same mother-in-law who sent me a custom postcard from Basque Country that was just a picture of huge plate of ham she was eating which was cruel and terrible.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 4:24 PM on July 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

The article says Benton's family first cured hams in Virginia, then quit because of gummint regulations. Virginia hams were from peanut-fed hogs up until 1965 or thereabouts, and then lost much of their distinct goodness as Smithfield muscled its way to market prominence. There were still lots of local farmers smoking hams then, and there were local differences that made for interesting and distinctive meats. The acorn-fed hams I had in the 1950s and '60s came from Georgia and were somewhat bitter with hard yellow fat. Anyway, artisans trying to rescue American hams and cheeses and beer from the corporate octopi that now control their production are laudable.
(BTW, cat-head biscuits are the excuse for those flabby monstrosities that KFC and others are peddling. A biscuit should be light and flakey, cf. "beaten biscuits", which no one ever makes anymore, more's the pity.)
posted by CCBC at 4:41 PM on July 6, 2017

Edwards' Surryano hams from Virginia are supposed to be delicious but their smokehouse burned down last year right after I learned of them and they have since been unavailable.
posted by ghharr at 4:50 PM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Growing up in eastern NC in the 1940s and 50s, we ate sugar-cured hams from Virginia that were delectable. I'm not fond of what so many call country ham these days, too tough and too salty. I do love me some prosciutto, though.
posted by MovableBookLady at 4:58 PM on July 6, 2017

The Whole Hog, Garden & Gun's new podcast series,

That looks terrific, thanks!
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:00 PM on July 6, 2017

The Edwards products are great. Bentons makes great bacon as well.
posted by JPD at 6:30 PM on July 6, 2017

I don't know if we Spaniards don't understand bread (I think we do, but you have to shop around), but almost every sandwich ("bocadillo" or "bocata") improves if you rub some tomatoe. Check my Everything entry of "Pa amb tomàquet" for instructions. (oh dear, I wrote that 17 years ago...)
posted by samelborp at 4:41 AM on July 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Benton bacon is MAGIC. I dragged a sizeable quantity back from a road trip a few years ago. Oh man.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:23 AM on July 7, 2017

I visited Valencia this March, and dined fiercely on fine ham for breakfasts.
posted by doctornemo at 7:33 AM on July 7, 2017

> Do you not know about La Quercia?! Their prosciutto (all varieties) are really, really fantastic. And from Iowa.

Sadly, they are not jamon iberico. For that, lacking a very high-end local deli indeed, you must pay $22 for 2 oz. here.

I know they're not iberico. But Nelson was wishing for "the delicate glossy texture of jamón ibérico or prosciutto" and La Quercia does at least provide that, along with flavor which is less country ham and more funky -- they do prosciutto with both Berkshires and Tamworths, including a style where the Tamworths spend their last four months foraging for acorns and hickory nuts in the Ozarks. Still not bellota, no.
posted by desuetude at 11:35 AM on July 7, 2017

I wonder what Allan Benton and James Leprino would have to say to each other. Are they speaking two totally different languages? Or would they understand and respect the decisions made by the other? Asking for a friend.
posted by mumblelard at 4:54 PM on July 9, 2017