Iberico-Some Pig

[guttergourmet]

Just had the first slices of the imported jamon serrano pata negra iberico sliced a mano at Despana. $100 a pound and worth it! The iberico de bellota won't be available for another few months ($150/lb) and is even better. I had a few slices of the latter at Dean & DeLuca which they had marked down to $50/lb as they only had one leg to stand on. Probably trying to addict a few people so they can mark it back up when it becomes more available. It was indeed superior. Melts on the tongue. The nuttiness in the fat of the bellota (acorns) is like crack. If Wilbur had been a pata negra bellota iberico pig, even Charlotte's web couldn't have saved him.

[guttergourmet]

Recession Special Update Alert- Murray's Cheese-machine sliced but nevertheless jamon iberico bellota leg- hold your breath-$70/lb. Run don't walk.

[kobetobiko]

Oh that's great to know. Do you know how long this special is going to last?

[doomalyas]

I was there yesterday and they confirmed that it is not bellota - iberico but not bellota.

[kobetobiko]

boo....That's not really a bargain then. bellota is what I am after.

[guttergourmet]

I will check-if not bellota then I will inform the SEC ("Serrano Exchange Commission") because then I was misled.

[kobetobiko]

Hi gg,

I think the employee probably just made a mistake because he/she wasn't konwledgeable about iberico ham. If it is Despana I will say the person was misleading. But Murray's people aren't really that good at their own stuff.

[shortstop]

I was there yesterday, and they had bellota @ $99.99/lb.

[hungrycomposer]

Does anyone know how much one average slice costs?

[kathryn]

Hard to say as the hams are so irregularly shaped. I would assume they would have a 1/4 lb. minimum...

[hungrycomposer]

Thanks, that makes more sense - we all know how much 1/4 lb. of meat is. $7.50 for 1/4 lb. of anything great is not so bad.

[Miss Needle]

Do you mean $17.50 for a 1/4 lb?

I purchased 1/4 lb for DH over the weekend. I had a couple of pieces and DH had the rest. I think he was pretty happy.

[hungrycomposer]

Oops! Sorry for the typo... Or wishful thinking.

[brettnyc]

If you want less than a 1/4 lb I believe that Despana has no minimum for Iberico, and would cut you a couple slices to snack on if you wanted.

[kobetobiko]

So does Dean and Deluca. They used to offer a fixed price for 3 pieces or something.

[guttergourmet]

Update- the paleta jamon iberico bellotta which is the boneless shoulder (not the leg) of that magical pig is now available: $150/lb at Dean & DeLuca or $115/lb at Despana-both machine sliced and damned good. Legs coming in a couple of months. Hand sliced leg should approach $200/lb. Who's complaining about a $4 slice of pizza?

[SeanDirty]

I bought 1 slice!! from D&D and it costed 8.25 Hand Sliced!!! 1 Freakin slice!!! But mmmmmm worth it.

[ktcz]

Mercat restaurant on Bond Street is selling Iberico at a special price to its customers for the introduction to NYC. It is delicious.

[robotcoupe]

How special is their price? Any idea how it's served?

[ktcz]

it was $14 for a tasting plate with a few slices. The owner was offering this the first week for the introduction. Not certain how long that price will last, though.

[guttergourmet]

You can get a few small slices for like $8 at El Quinto Pino. Wonder if Bar Jamon (Batali) will get on the band wagon?

[kathryn]

FYI, Gothamist reports that Despana is out but about to get more (it is literally going through customs at the airport).

http://gothamist.com/2007/12/14/expen...

[doona]

I got some at Agata and Valentina yesterday. You have to ask for it, it's not out on display, but they do have it. And it was great. But--- is it worth $80/lb?????

[MMRuth]

I've been researching this more - and it seems like D&D had bone-in and boneless pata negra iberico, but not bellota - did D&D tell you it was bellota? La Tienda also shows it as not available until July 2008, which makes sense to me since it has to age longer.

http://www.tienda.com/jamon/index.html

[guttergourmet]

D&D SoHo advertised it as bellota on the sign and I did think it was superior. False advertising? Power of suggestion perhaps?

[MMRuth]

Maybe it is bellota then. At the Madison Avenue one, they had no signs - and no bone-in. I'll give them a call before trying to stop by Prince St.

[MMRuth]

FWIW - I just spoke to someone in the Charcuterie department at the Prince Street store, and he said they don't have bellota because it's not allowed in yet.

[kathryn]

Ack. Are they going to change the signs?!

[kobetobiko]

Hi GG,

A question about the jamon you got at Despana. Were they able to hand-slice the ham properly? I definitely prefered the ham from the leg with bone-in, but the person at D&D did a terrible job in slicing (see my post above). Just want to know if I should venture to Despana for some properly-sliced ham, albeit the higher price.

Thanks!

[kathryn]

Despana only has the "regular" jamon iberico, though, right? Not the higher quality, more rare bellota.

Was the D&D jamon that was machine-sliced the regular iberico or the bellota?

[guttergourmet]

At the risk of creating some controversy, I went back to Despana last night and got another 1/4 pound of the iberico sliced by hand. It was a new piece and the streaking of fat was amazing-like kobe beef. Perfect thin cut slices. I agree that D&D doesn't slice well. When I mentioned that D&D was offering "bellota" my friend at Despana said that wasn't possible since it wasn't available yet in the country and that D&D didn't know how to properly slice jamon anyway. I remember seeing a class (somewhere?) on how to properly slice jamon (free samples included) from a hoofed leg held in place by the jamon "holder" (is there a name for it?).

[MMRuth]

Now that you mention that - I seem to recall reading that some where w/ respect to latienda.com.

[Barcelonian]

It does have a name - it's called a Jamonero!

[guttergourmet]

Muchas gracias!

[MMRuth]

In the NYT article, above, I think they said that Despana will do it either way, but charges $10 more a pound for hand slicing.

[MMRuth]

There's a little piece in the NYT Dining section today about the arrival - says that Agata and Valentina has it - and the price is lower than the other places discussed so far, I think - $71.96 a pound.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/din...

[kathryn]

Odd. D&D is selling it for $87/lb? Is that the regular jamon iberico or the bellota? I bought the bellota for $75/lb on Monday!

[fgf]

In Spain they also make the most delicious head cheese from these beasts, any idea if this will also become available?

[MMRuth]

Ah - thank you so much - hadn't started to look into where to get it in Manhattan. I may have to take a walk down to D&D - which one did you go to? The one on Madison Avenue, with which I have a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship is close to my apartment.

[guttergourmet]

Soho-but going fast

[davisready]

Just got back from there. Apparently, there was a pricing mix-up in the corporate office. They are now selling it for $75/lb.

[kobetobiko]

Hi davisready,

Do D&D still have a lot left? I am planning to go tomorrow but am afraid it will be sold out!

Thanks in advance!

[davisready]

It looked like they still had a good amount. I'm sure there will be some left if you go tomorrow.

[kobetobiko]

Thanks!

[kobetobiko]

Just to follow up, I bought the bellota at D&D yesterday. There were two kinds, one with bone in (the giant leg) and one without bone. I generally preferred bone in especially that I saw the leg was sliced to close to the bone now - IMO the meat closer to the bone had more flavor and the surface was large and wide for slicing a perfect larger slice. Like RCC, the person behind the counter said that the jamon with bone in is drier and dry-aged longer than the solid ham, but he was willing to slice off the first dry layer so I will get the meat inside.

I purchased both types as I want to try some thin-sliced jamon (by machine) and that's only possible with the ham without bone. I didn't notice a big different, but the bone-in one was less salty which kinda accentuated the sweetness. HOWEVER, I had to say that the person behind the counter was not skilled at all in slicing the ham and the ham came out way to thick and uneven.

The jamon without bone was sliced thin, and really melted in my mouth!

[MMRuth]

I bought some at D&D on Madison Avenue - without the bone, cut on the machine. They didn't have the one on the bone there, as far as I could tell, and the people seemed pretty clueless. My husband had a bite and pronounced it "the real thing". Off to nibble on some for dinner.

Edit: Mmmm - that was delicious. I grilled some bread in my grill pan with a little olive oil, some slices on top - perfect dinner, except for the chap featured in the avatar who looked on longingly!

[kathryn]

They were slicing a big leg in the Soho store, and I saw a few more on the shelf behind the display counter. It was labeled as jamón ibérico de bellota.

[MMRuth]

Lucky guttergourmet!

[RCC]

My wife had the day off from work and bought a couple of pounds in one slab from the jamon with the bone-in piece. They were selling from 2 kinds - one with the bone-in, and the other is a big slab of jamon without the bone.

We had ours for dinner with some baguette-type rustic bread from Eli's and some manchego from Ideal Cheese. The jamon melted in the palate. The slices were delicious and tasty. They're expensive but were sooooo darn good.

According to the person behind the counter, the jamon with the bone is drier and dry-aged longer than the solid ham.

BTW, the price was $75 per pound.

[kathryn]

Ditto. The bellota was very sweet, nutty, tender, and dark (wild tasting?). That last part could just be my imagination though. It's not very salty at all. The fatty part is very tender (falls apart if you look at it sideways) and melts in your mouth.

It's delicious. We polished off 1/4 lb. in about five minutes, paired with some toasted Tom Cat baguette.

I justified my purchase with the thoughts that a) it's cheaper now as an introductory price than it will be by next year when it gets popular b) it's the first of its kind in the USA and c) it's filled with the good kind of fat, monounsaturated fatty acid.