la navarrica: Jamón jamón jamón (and other highlights of my weekend in Madrid)

Spaniards may love jamón more than anything else in the world (except maybe futbol). So when I heard there was a feria of jamón in Plaza Mayor the same weekend I was going to be in Madrid, you can bet I was excited. And it did not disappoint! There was a huge tent in the middle of the plaza, packed with people and vendors from eight of the best jamón ibérico companies in the world. These are legs of jamón that sell for 200-500 euros.

There was also a presentation on how to eat and cut jamón ibérico, led by the most Spanish man I´ve ever seen. This man would have fought you to the death if you dared suggest that there is any food on the planet that can even compete with jamón ibérico. Pictured below, he describes the four great delicacies of the world (truffles, caviar, and foie), and why jamón ibérico stands alone at the top of the list. He even got an Italian man to admit that jamón ibérico is better than prosciutto.

Ground rules of eating jamón ibérico: When you´re eating a 500 euro leg of jamón, you´re not allowed to eat it with tomato or bread. They mask the flavor of the jamón, which is just a waste. You have to eat the jamón on its own, and sliced so thin you can see through it, so thin that it melts in your mouth. First, you smell it, to warm up the brain, he said. To get your brain thinking about all the flavors, so that your brain is ready for what it´s about to experience. Next, you let it rest on your tongue for at least a minute while it melts in your mouth.

If you want to see sweet old Spanish ladies turn violent, put a plate of free jamón ibérico bellota in front of them. I got swatted out of the way and almost lost an arm (and it still took me til the third plate of samples put out to get a piece, even though I was in the second row). Picture piranhas. They were merciless.

Next, the cutting lesson.

Among the best quotes of the night:

"Jamón is alive, it breathes, it sweats when it´s hot, it freezes when it´s cold. And when you cut it, you kill it. Jamón cutters, we´re asesinos, murderers. The least we can do is give it a muerte digna, a dignified death."

and

"You can take a class, but you can never learn how to cut jamón. Every leg is different, you are constantly learning. It´s an art, and to make art, you have to take a siesta, you have to have a drink, you have to be Spanish!"

Pictured below, a demonstration of the different cutting strokes (who knew jamón was so complicated? Not this girl!)

And of course, there was plenty of eating involved. Two euros got you a jamón coin, which could be used for either a drink or a pincho of jamón or cheese.

Yum!

Round 2, once we found the cheese booth

The only problem is that once you've tried 500 euros a leg jamón, its hard to go back to the cheap stuff I buy in the supermercado. Add it to the list of things I´ll buy when I win the lottery!

While it´s hard to top a jamón festival, the rest of my weekend in Madrid was perfect. Here are some of the highlights.