The four major brands of Spanish ham
1, small Jose Joselito ham
Produced in Spain, Salamanca Province, Guijuelo Guijuelo region, began in 1868. It has been used in many top Michelin restaurants because of the relationship between French culinary god Jo?l Robuchon and Spanish culinary god Ferran Adrià. But because of their low annual production limit, it is said that they only produce 30,000 hams a year. They also don't do a lot of commercial promotion, so not many people in China know about the brand Little Jose.
2, 5J Cinco Jotas ham
Spain's black label certified ham brand, produced in Spain Jabugo Jabugo region, was born in 1879. 5J cinco jotas is the top brand of Spanish ham in the commercial operation of the more extensive brand, so in the country is more people know. For example, please the refrigerator in the fourth season, Qi Wei's refrigerator is also this ham.
3, Maldonado ham
Produced in the Alburquerque region, this brand is more rare in the country, but in Spain and Joselito also sold as expensive.
4, LA MONTANERA ham
and 5J ham a production area of LA MONTANERA Monterey ham and Oak Hill ham is also good.
What brand of Spanish ham is good
5J and small Jose are not bad.
If you go to the local Spain, you will see a lot of brands, dazzling. Just pick any of them by following the principles stated above. If you really want to buy guaranteed, there are some well-known brands with consistent quality. For example, 5J is the major star hotels like to use the product, the highest international popularity, Joselito is commonly known as the small Jose, is the top Michelin restaurant favorite brand.
How to choose Spanish ham
1, the Spanish ham classification is very detailed, four production areas, four levels. With Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs, each ham has a bar code, you can track the production area, feeding farms, pig blood and consumption of feed;
2, not in Spain, it is recommended to look at the brand, surely small Jose, 5J and other brands of quality and stability, any part of the ham is delicious, and then slowly to develop their own tastes (for example, I love to eat the front leg, close to the shoulder position, the more fat).
How to cut Spanish ham
First, use a wide-bladed cutting knife to make an oblique cut above the elbow near the pig's foot a few centimeters, the oblique cut should be cut to the position of the small bones protruding from the femur, and after that, use a narrow-bladed boning knife to connect the two ends of the incision to form a ring.
Second, use a wide-bladed knife to cut the skin of the ham. This step should carefully remove the outer skin of the ham, go not clean will affect the taste of the ham, eating will have a raw fishy flavor or bitter taste, the amount of skin according to the amount of use to determine. Then remove some of the fat (the fat removed should be kept intact and used to cover the new cut to maintain the fresh flavor of the ham).
Third, cut the upper part of the meat of the ham, this step in the cut, to control the strength of the knife, the right thumb to press the knife, slicing, always keep the direction with the horizontal straight to the separation of the sit bones, with a short knife to the bone to separate, do not break the ham meat, after the bone on the meat to clean up. The slices of ham should be of the right width and thickness, with three to five layers of marbling being optimal. The shallow dish in which the slices of ham are served should be kept at a certain temperature, preferably in the mid to upper 40s, so that the color and flavor of the ham can be better distributed. When there is no need to cut again, you can cover the fat slices just cut down on the cut surface, so as to facilitate the preservation of ham.