It's an art. Those who are dedicated to cutting ham, an increasingly sought-after profession, know this well. It requires concentration, skill and knowledge of the piece at hand. And it is during these holidays when the most ham is bought or given as a gift. The lucky ones who have a leg in their homes face the task of getting the most out of it, cutting it gracefully, but above all not destroying it, something that is quite common. Several master cutters reveal their secrets to get the most out of it and slice, always with a knife, one of the most valued products in Spanish gastronomy and one of the most precious at this time.
The first thing they recommend is to choose the right ham, depending on the diet the animal has received. If it is acorn-fed Iberian, whose pigs feed on the fruit of the holm oak during the montanera season, the better. Of good size, this means about 7 or 7.5 kilos per piece. The first thing to do, even if it is not going to be consumed at that moment, is to remove plastic and packaging. Undress him. Once the leg is placed on a firm surface, preferably on a cutting board, on which it can fit well, the cutting process begins.
Here comes the first dilemma. Where to cut. By the mace or by the stifle. A detail that is important, say the experts consulted. “Domestic cutting is a way to socialize with family or friends, something that is done while drinking wine and enjoying the quintessence of gastronomy,” says Santiago Martínez Samitier, cutter and ambassador of the Iberian brand Cinco Jotas. And if you want to entertain the guests, “what you have to do is open it from the most aesthetic, the most beautiful part, which is the mace, and in which the three parts are mixed, the shank, the mace and the tip, so the tasting is more complete, because there are more textures, flavors and nuances.” He details that the shank has a firm texture, with sweet and complex nuances, while the mace is more balanced, with a good proportion of lean and fat, similar to umami, tasty, but without being salty. And the tip, the third texture, which, according to Martínez, composes a triptych in the image and likeness of the work of Hieronymus Bosch. The garden of delights: “Each of the parts offers sensations, nuances and intensities, where each of the parts offers a new detail.” In addition to the organoleptic components, he believes that it is easier to start the ham on the smooth side, without obstacles. “It's a good way to start getting a taste for cutting.”
On the other hand, for Sebastián Criado, a cutter for a decade and head of this group at the Joselito firm, the best way to start a ham is with the stifle, that is, the narrowest part of the leg. “There are those who prefer mace, but I think it is better on the other hand because it is the one that has the least infiltrated fat and, therefore, it is the one that has the least protection and is the one that will be the driest the first.”
The size of the slice also counts. Raúl Barrado, Fisan cutter, advises that each unit have a thickness of between 0.1 and 0.2 millimeters, and a width of 4 centimeters. “But the important thing is that it contains both lean and fat, because lean alone does not contribute much, taking into account that in the club part we will get wider slices and in the stifle narrower ones.” He believes that a good cut is marked by straightness, so that the surface is parallel to the femur and this, in turn, is parallel to the cutting table. And he compares the movement of the hand to that of a classic dance, without sudden gestures, as if it were the handling of a saw, to avoid unsightly marks on the flesh. “Cutting a ham is the last link in the production chain and must be done with care, in order not to damage it,” explains Barrado, who advises working with a cutting knife with alveoli on the surface. “It makes our work easier on less cured hams and makes the blade slide better.”
It is as if playing a violin, Criado points out, the movement of the arm has to be soft and light. “It is not a question of strength and it cannot be abused, the knife has to slide, but to do so it must be very sharp.” The tool is key when sectioning a pork leg. “It is important to have a good knife specifically for cutting ham. A very common mistake is not having it sharpened properly, which makes it unsafe to work with them. To make a clean cut there must be a good edge,” says this expert, who draws the perfect slice of it: one that has a semi-transparent thickness and covers the entire surface of the ham, about three or four centimeters wide. And something very important, “it has to have fat.”
Ángel Pérez, Castro y González's cutter, advises going to the saw, but to take advantage of the bone and the hard parts of the piece. Because everything is used from the ham, except the hoof that has touched the ground. With the help of the other knife necessary to handle a ham, called a cleaning knife, with a wider and firmer blade, with which you remove the rind and clean the leg – it is also advisable to have a pointed knife, short, strong and finished in tip to be able to correctly separate the ham from the bone, and a sharpening steel or knife sharpener—cut the hardest parts, which are used for cooking. “With the bone and the remains you can make stir-fries, broths, everything is useful,” explains this expert, who advises not to be afraid of ham, even if it is imposing. “There is no need to get nervous. It is a good hobby and there are more and more people interested in learning cutting techniques.”
The best way to keep a ham in optimal conditions at home, warns Martínez Samitier, is to cut 100 grams every day. “And between cuts, it is a good idea to scrape the fat with the torso of the knife and spread it a little to keep it hydrated.” And the greatest sacrilege that can be committed with a ham, and all the experts consulted agree on this, including Raquel Acosta, professional cutter, who explains in the attached video all her advice when it comes to cutting a ham—she is in favor of doing it by the stifle—is to cover it with a cloth. Never. It's antediluvian, they say. In addition, it does not protect meat from oxidation. The correct thing to do is to cover it with the pink part of the bacon – it is very important that it is not yellow, which means it is rancid – and then with plastic film on the ham holder.
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