[Sca-cooks] Serrano hams

[Suey]

Stefan wrote that I said:
> (Of course I am referring to Serrano ham. The pigs are raised in the
> holm oak forest and only eat acorns in Huelva, Spain and of course the
> best hams had black paws from digging for acorns.)>>>
>
> Oh! I'd heard of "Serrano" hams before, but didn't know any details. I thought it was a common occurance in the Middle Ages for pigs to be let run free in the forest and for them to eat acorns. I hadn't realized they dug for the acorns. I thought they were just eating what they found on the surface of the ground. But I've heard of "pigs rooting around", so this makes sense.
>
> I thought pigs dug with their front legs but hams cam from the back legs. Am I off here?
>
> Is it just eating the acorns that make/made the Serrano hams desired? Or do/did they do something special in their processing?  I guess originally I was thinking "Serrano" hams had something to do with "Serrano" peppers.
     The Spanish "serrano" means "from the mountains" so we have that 
kind of ham. That from Huelva (southern Spain from where Columbus said 
to America), in particular is called "pata negra," meaning black foot 
for the best serrano ham in Spain. The pigs have black feet from the 
dirt they pick up roaming the forests. They are amazing animals in that 
they smell which acorns are bitter and which are sweet. They reject the 
bitter and only eat the sweet. Friends of mine who lived in Spain during 
the Spanish Civil War lived on diets of acorns and have informed me of 
this difference about which I did not know. I just deleted the word 
"alambrar" from the draft of my book which literally means wool but 
actually is the ring in the pig's snout to prevent him from making holes 
in the ground with his snout. Yes, if the acorns were underground the 
pig would dig them up. Pigs can be very obnoxious about digging things 
up. It turns out that they the best hunters for truffles but they do not 
leave them to their owners if they find them! They are very piggish 
about that so as truffles are worth a fortune today we have rings in all 
the noses of our pigs!
     Back to the theme - no we do nothing but leave the pigs on the 
estates to find their acorns in the forest and when it is time for the 
slaughter the slaughter man cuts the aorta and we hang them from a tree 
to get the remaining blood out. Then the slaughter man cuts off the hind 
legs and men helping us prepare the meat cut the fat off on the back 
part of the leg to manually press the artery and squeeze out any 
remaining blood. (I cannot do that as I am too small and do not have the 
muscles.) Then we weigh the hind legs and place them in a bed of rock 
salt in a drying room. If the leg weighs 9 k. we use about 25 k. of 
salt. Its no problem is we overdo it as the leg only absorbs what it 
needs. The legs are left in the salt beds for two days for each kilo, 
i.e. 18 in this case. Then we hang them from the rafters in the drying 
room which is ventilated. Remember we kill the animals from the saints 
day of Saint Martin on, i.e. November 11th  - In the Canary Islands is 
is not done until the last Thursday in January. This was done to reduce 
the livestock that have to be stabled during the winter months and to 
provide food for the family while plants are not being harvest.
     Hams are normally hung from six months to two years. The longer 
they are hung the better they are and the more you pay at the market. 
There is nothing more to it then that.
     Now in our slaughters I use front legs for sausage meat. I never 
thought about salting them put it is possible.
     An interesting note is that contrary to our method of salting 
serrano hams is that in Granada the hams are buried in snow not salt. 
Surprised? So was I when I learned that. The hams are taken to the 
mountains outside of the city where my children and I ski in the winter. 
In Granada one skies in the morning and goes to the beach in the afternoon!
     I can hear J. Isreal Katz telling me to shut up and stop talking 
about that dirty prohibited meat! - Its my passion! I love serrano ham!!!
Suey