Jamon Serrano

The art of carving Jamón Serrano

The first time I heard a connoisseur describe a jamon serrano to me was akin to being introduced to an intimate friend. My friend, and the narrator of the culinary fantasy, was of course a Spaniard. We were stranded in an airport, lingering in that interminable airport purgatorial space, when I asked her what made a jamon serrano so special.

She took a deep breath, looked off into the middle distance, and began a soliloquy about the many factors that determine the worth of a true jamon.

I had to take her word for it until a recent trip to Madrid where I was introduced first hand to that intimate friend, that luscious shank of pork meat known as the Serrano Ham.

noticed as our host Antonio invited us to a late night snack upon our arrival, was the ritual around the storing, cutting, and eating of a jamon serrano.

From the open air pantry, Antonio produced a sizeable ham, already secured on what looked like a rotisserie skewer with a solid wood base, a proper device for carving the ham.

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