Classic jamon dish- Jamon con Melon: a play on the contrasting combination of corned beef and sweet melon. Olives, greens, and cheeses perfectly highlight the taste of jamon. It is very good with vegetables - eggplants, tomatoes, zucchini, cauliflower, green beans, as well as fried potatoes and pasta. Drinks served with the ham include dry red wine, sherry, and beer (preferably, of course, Spanish).
Jamon- a tender creature: its slices literally melt in your mouth. Therefore, if you want to add it to a hot dish, you need to do this at the very last moment - so that the slightly melted fat imparts a unique salty taste to the dish. Most dishes with jamon are served hot.
What you need:
For 6 servings:
- 1 melon weighing 1 kg.
- 12 large thin slices of Jamon
- 1 grated carrot
- freshly squeezed juice of one lemon
- 1 green onions
- 1/2 tablespoon grape vinegar
- salt and black ground pepper
What to do:
Cut the melon in half and use a spoon to scrape out the inside. Place in a salad bowl. Mix olive oil with lemon juice grape vinegar, add salt and pepper. Pour the resulting mixture into the melon. Add grated carrots and green onions. Stir and leave in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Shape the Jamon slices into a cone shape and serve with melon.
What you need:
For 4 servings:
- 200 g melon
- 240 g almonds
- 1 clove of garlic
- 4 tbsp. l. olive oil
- white bread crumbs
- jamon slices
- vinegar, salt
What to do:
Grind the almonds. Chop a clove of garlic. Combine almonds, garlic and olive oil in a blender. Add salt and vinegar to taste. Add bread crumbs (their quantity depends on how thick the soup you prefer). Mix everything again in a blender.
Garnish the finished cold soup with melon balls and slices of jamon. The final taste of the dish is a mixture of sweet and salty.
Jamon with avacado
What you need:
For 4 servings:
- 200-300 g jamon
- Avocado - 2 pcs.
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- White wine vinegar - 4 tablespoons
- 4eggs
- Onions - 2 pcs.
- Parsley for decoration
- Green salad - 2 leaves for decoration
- Ground black pepper and salt to taste;
- Pickled sweet pepper
What to do:
Peel the avocado, cut lengthwise and remove the pit. Cut the resulting halves crosswise.
Prepare the sauce: mix olive oil, vinegar, salt and black pepper, add finely chopped onion and boiled egg.
Place avocado slices on lettuce leaves on a platter with slices of Jamon and pour over the sauce.
Dried pork, cut into thin slices, which has been salted in advance - this is jamon. It is considered a Spanish delicacy. But you don’t have to go to Spain to try the famous dish. We offer best recipes jamon at home.
It's time to surprise your guests with interesting and unusual dish- pork jamon.
Ingredients:
- pork ham – 4 kg;
- sea salt – 12 kg.
Preparation:
- Trim excess fat from ham. Sprinkle well with salt.
- Place in a basin and put in the attic for two weeks. To ensure that the piece is evenly salted, turn it over periodically.
- Wash off the remaining salt. Hang the ham from the ceiling.
- Leave to ripen for six months. If possible, once a week it is necessary to increase the temperature by one degree. This will help the ham sweat. Excess moisture and fat will be released from the pork.
- Transfer to a cool place. You can go to the balcony. Hang from the ceiling and leave for three months.
Traditional spanish recipe
You can make jamon at home, but you need to be patient. The main product after a piece of meat is salt, which is a preservative and helps pork acquire a special taste.
Ingredients:
- pork ham – 5 kg;
- sea salt – 20 kg.
Preparation:
- Trim the fat from the ham. Add salt, which must be coarse. Place in the cellar, can be stored in the refrigerator.
- To ensure that the salt is evenly distributed, absorbed and displaces excess moisture, the ham is salted for two weeks.
- Rinse the piece of meat and leave it for three days in a room with a temperature of at least 30 degrees.
- Move to a dark place where the temperature does not exceed 10 degrees. Next, the temperature and humidity are gradually increased. It will take at least six months to keep the ham in this room. When the ham is completely dry, move it to a room with an air temperature of eight degrees and leave it to dry for 9-25 months.
Cooking with lamb
Lamb jamon is an unusual appetizer that can completely replace sausage from the store, not only on a regular day, but also on a holiday.
Ingredients:
- salt – 4 kg for the first salting;
- leg of lamb – 2 kg;
- salt – 4 kg.
Preparation:
- Place foil on a baking sheet. Add half a kilogram of salt. Place the leg and cover with the remaining salt for the first salting. Place in a cool place for a day.
- Remove salt that has been saturated with juice. Shake your leg to remove any remaining salt. Add two kilograms of salt. Leave for two days.
- Remove the salt and add two kilograms of salt. Leave for a week.
- Remove all salt and hang for a week in a well-ventilated room. Place a basin under your foot so that the juice that will be released does not drip onto the floor.
- The meat will take on a beautiful dark color. Keep finished product in the refrigerator.
Hamon in an accelerated way
If you do not have the opportunity to age the ham in the attic or basement, we offer a very quick cooking option.
Ingredients:
- pepper mixture;
- pork loin – 1 kg;
- curry;
- salt – 2 kg;
- basil;
- sugar – 1 kg;
- bay leaf - 2 leaves, chopped.
Preparation:
- Dry the loin. Sprinkle with salt and sugar. Place in a bowl, preferably an enamel one. Place oppression on top. Leave for three days. Turn over several times during this time so that the piece is salted evenly. Also regularly drain the liquid that comes out of the meat.
- Take a paper towel and dry the piece. Rub with spices. Wrap in gauze and tie with thick thread. Hang from the ceiling for five days. Preferably on the balcony.
- After five days, the pork is ready to eat. But we recommend that you be patient and turn the brisket into a real delicacy. To do this, let it hang for a month. This meat can be stored for more than a year.
With herbs
You don't have to buy a large ham to cook it. A good quality loin will do.
Ingredients:
- ground black pepper;
- vinegar – 100 ml (6%);
- salt – 550 g;
- crushed bay leaf– 1 teaspoon;
- spicy herbs;
- sugar – 250 g;
- loin – 2100 g.
Preparation:
- Add sugar to salt. Add herbs and pepper. Mix.
- Rub the resulting mixture onto the loin. Place in a container, preferably an enamel one. Sprinkle with vinegar. Place oppression. Place in the refrigerator for three days.
- Turn the piece over every day to better salt it.
- After the specified time, wipe with a paper towel. Rub again herbs and wrap in gauze. Hang it on the balcony. If you cook in the warm season, then put it in the refrigerator for the day and hang it out again at night. It will take a week to prepare.
How to store jamon at home
To store the ham you will need a dry room with a stable temperature of about 15-20 degrees. If there are frequent or sudden temperature changes, the meat will spoil faster.
For more long-term storage hang with the hoof up, having previously coated it with fat on all sides. Fat can be replaced with olive oil.
The appearance of mold on the surface is the normal limit. The fungus indicates that the product is natural and complied with technological conditions preparations.
After cutting off the pieces of meat, place a strip of fat in the cut area and cover with natural cloth.
What to serve cooked meat with
This delicacy must be presented correctly. Can be served as a stand-alone snack. To do this, place the meat slices on a dish and garnish with herbs, which will not spoil the taste of the delicacy. It is recommended to place on a warm dish or wooden board.
The refined aroma and taste of the dish is ideally emphasized by wine and various fruits. Salty slices go perfectly with sweet melon. Fruit slices are wrapped in thin slices and placed on skewers. Place on a plate and decorate around with olives, herbs and cheese.
Most often jamon is served with:
- goat or sheep cheese;
- soft cheese with basil;
- large and not very sweet grapes;
- pear;
- asparagus;
- melons;
- figs;
- arugula;
- pitted olives;
- strawberries;
- soft feta cheese.
Everyone at least once in their life has encountered a problem when they need to quickly prepare something, for example, sandwiches or snacks, if guests unexpectedly come. And most importantly, from what products. You have to rack your brains over these questions for hours in order to cook something both tasty and interesting.
In this article we will talk about the main brand of Spain – jamon. As almost every chef in Spain says, when it comes to jamon, you have carte blanche. And, indeed, almost everything goes with jamon. Plus an unforgettable taste! These 5 recipes were prepared by the Torres brothers specifically so that anyone, regardless of country, could prepare a dish with jamon in their kitchen without any extra effort.
1 Chips, eggs and jamon
Preparation
Peel the potatoes in rings and fry well in olive oil. Fry separately in a frying pan quail eggs. First we take the chips, put in the jamon first, and then the egg. Simple and delicious.
2 Cannelloni with jamon
Preparation
First, cook the ham bones. Then transfer them to a saucepan with vegetables and simmer over low heat for about an hour. Strain the broth, reserving half for the sauce and the other for the filling. Separately mix butter, milk, flour, adding broth and diced jamon. Place over low heat and simmer until mixture thickens. When the filling is ready, carefully stuff the cannelloni with it and place them on the baking sheet. Top the cannelloni with the remaining broth. Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees. Before serving, you can wrap the cannelloni in jamon. This is not the most quick recipe, but actually very simple.
3 Jamon in Jerusalem artichoke cream
Preparation:
Boil the Jerusalem artichoke in water until it becomes soft. Using a fork or spatula, crush the Jerusalem artichoke root while gradually adding olive oil. You should end up with a consistency that looks like buttercream. Add salt and pepper. Place the cream on a plate and place pieces of jamon on top. You can decorate the dish with parsnip sprigs.
4 Jamon and Torta del Casar
Preparation:
The simplest recipe. Thinly slice the jamon and place the Torta del Casar cheese on top using a teaspoon. Then wrap the jamon around the cheese and voila, the dish is ready.
5 Jamon envelopes with asparagus and mushrooms
Preparation:
Finely chop the shallot and fry in olive oil. Mushrooms and asparagus should be cut into cubes and added to the pan. Season with spices. In order to roll the envelopes, you need to cut the jamon in half, put the filling in the middle and cover with a second layer of ham. To prevent the envelope from falling apart, tie it with a bow.
“Drink a sip of dry red wine, bite into the thinnest slice of ham that melts in your mouth, then eat a couple of olives and again enjoy the wonderful taste of meat” - this is exactly what, according to gourmets, the first acquaintance with the pearl of Spanish cuisine - dry-cured ham called “jamon” should look like. . And for those who don’t really like olives, connoisseurs offer juicy melon slices as a worthy accompaniment to jamon, ideally emphasizing the taste and aroma of the ham.
History is silent about when this delicacy was born. What is known for certain is that the first mentions of it date back to the beginning of the 2nd century AD. In Roman manuscripts, the Spanish ham was called the “king of meals” and the “miracle of the world,” the birth process of which was then kept in the strictest confidence. To this day, producers of this delicacy strictly follow the old recommendations.
The best jamon is made from the hams of black Iberian pigs. The piglets are first fed grain and grass, and then put on a special diet. They graze in oak groves, feeding exclusively on acorns. And a couple of times a day they are driven to a watering hole so that the animals have time to pump up muscle mass and reach a weight of 150-180 kg (then the ham will turn out to be the desired pinkish color with the finest streaks of fat). The prepared pork legs are branded and placed in containers with salt for several days. Then the hams are thoroughly washed - the salt coating should be completely removed. After this, the jamon is stored for one and a half months in special chambers in which the correct temperature and humidity levels are maintained. From the chambers, the hams are moved to storage facilities for drying for three months, and the jamon “ripens” in cool cellars (this process, as a rule, takes from one and a half to three years).
Each “ripening” leg is inspected by a quality inspector to find out whether the workpiece meets all requirements. And this is done like this: with a stick with a pointed end, made of porous horse bone, the ham is pierced in several places. The pores of the bone absorb the smell of dried ham well - from this smell the inspector will have to determine whether the “sample” is worthy of being called real jamon or not. The hams that successfully passed the inspection are examined again after 3-5 months and marked “the most worthy” with a special mark.
“Is that all? They just salt the jamon and hang it up?” - some will probably be surprised. “Isn’t it soaked in special brines, flavored with spices and smoked to give it a special taste?” As you can see, they are not flavored or smoked - this delicacy, according to culinary specialists, does not require any flavorings or other additions: it owes its amazing taste only to the time and talent of the craftsmen. To feel and appreciate all the facets of the taste of this ham, you must first cut it very thin: then the slices will literally melt in your mouth.
To do this, the hamon is placed on a wooden stand - hamonera, equipped with a metal clamp (the hoof is attached to it). And for slicing meat, a special knife with a long narrow blade is used. Don’t forget that jamon can be served not only as a separate appetizer, but also added to salads, soups, pasta, pizza and hot fish and seafood dishes. True connoisseurs of Spanish ham will certainly be pleased with a salad of boiled white asparagus, jamon cut into small cubes, melon pulp and aromatic herbs, seasoned cream sauce with the addition of olives. And lovers of puree soups will appreciate the taste of the “Catalan Pearl”. This soup is made from chicken meat, garlic, hot red pepper, herbs and slices of jamon and served with crispy white croutons.
Photo: Shutterstock.com
Ingredients for 2 servings:
4 veal escalopes (100 g each)
200 g dry-cured ham
1 tbsp. l. butter
1 tbsp. l. olive oil
25 ml dry white wine
25 ml meat broth
Preparation:
4 veal escalopes (100 g each), salt and pepper to taste, put a sage leaf on each, roll the meat into rolls, wrap each portion with a thin slice of dry-cured ham (200 g) and pierce the rolls with wooden skewers. Fry the rolls for a couple of minutes, turning over, in a saucepan in 1 tbsp. l. butter and 1 tbsp. l. olive oil, then pour them with dry white wine and meat broth (25 ml each) and simmer for 15 minutes.