In Spain, a Delicacy Rooted in Earth and Tradition
Paola Singer
As we sauntered up the steep, narrow cobblestone streets of Cáceres in western Spain, it wasn’t hard to imagine life there in the Middle Ages. Night was falling, and before us were Gothic churches, Roman arches and Moorish towers, glowing in the soft light of lanterns. It was an arresting sight, but our thoughts soon veered elsewhere — to food and the sumptuous meal we were anticipating.
Most people travel to this ancient city for its architectural treasures; my friends and I had come to eat pork.
Minutes later, we faced an encyclopedic list of traditional dishes at El Figón de Eustaquio, a family restaurant with jacketed waiters and white tablecloths. For starters, we had a plate of jamón Ibérico de bellota — cured ham made from acorn-fed pigs, which is the regional specialty — plus a round torta del casar, a creamy sheep’s milk cheese enveloped in a hard curd, and giant locally grown white asparagus.
Though I considered the herbed pork sirloin as an entree, my friend Joan insisted we order the esoteric-sounding secreto Ibérico, or Iberian secret. This simply presented pork filet, we later learned, comes from a special cut near the front leg that’s interspersed with very thin layers of fat. After making all sorts of silly jokes about the curious name of this dish, we ate in complete silence. It was incredibly tender, subtly seasoned and simply delicious.
Cáceres, in the Extremadura region, is in the heart of Spain’s pig country. I had traveled there in search of the world’s best ham, a recent food obsession instigated by Spanish friends. Along the way, I discovered a variety of mouthwatering specialties, learned about unique traditions and met locals with a contagious passion for their culinary heritage.
As people’s knowledge and love of Spanish cuisine grow, delicacies like jamón Ibérico de bellota are entering the international spotlight. This time-honored ham arrived in the United States in 2008 to much fanfare. Sold for about $200 a pound at specialty stores like LaTienda.com, it became the most expensive cold cut in the country. Discerning consumers seem eager to pay this lofty price. This summer, the powerhouse brand 5J (Cinco Jotas) plans to enter the American market, joining the U.S.D.A.-certified producer Embutidos Fermín.
“Iberian pork meat is extraordinary,” Ferran Adrià, the acclaimed chef at El Bulli, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Catalonia, said in a phone interview. “There’s nothing like it elsewhere in the world. There’s a great difference between a superior ham and all the rest.”
The secret of this superiority rests in the thousands of acres of dehesas — mountainous meadows populated by oak trees — where the indigenous black Iberian pigs have roamed since ancient times. They feed on grass, fruit and, most importantly, acorns that fall every autumn from holm and cork oaks. This gives their meat a unique nutty flavor and a high level of oleic acids, considered a healthy fat.
Spaniards take this food tradition seriously. More than 40 million cured hams were sold last year in Spain, and those derived from Iberian pigs are a particular source of national pride. Local residents started curing meats more than a thousand years ago, eventually turning the craft into an art.
Our sybaritic journey started in Salamanca, 130 miles west of Madrid. This lively city marks the unofficial beginning of the Iberian ham trail, which stretches roughly 300 miles down to Seville. My travel companions — María, an effusive Madrileña who drove expertly over cliff-hanging roads, and Joan, an adventurous Catalan who helped us discover the Iberian secret — were old friends and fellow carnivores.
After a brisk tour of Salamanca’s historic center and its lovely Plaza Mayor, we defied the custom of savoring one’s meals and ordered a few appetizers to go. We had an important appointment 30 miles south, in Guijuelo, a small town of dowdy, low-rise buildings and old-fashioned ham shops. I had arranged to visit several ham producers on our pilgrimage, and this was a required stop: the headquarters of Joselito, considered the Dom Pérignon of hams.
Joselito’s owner, José Gómez, on first impression a laconic man, spoke long and fervently about the 100-year-old empire founded by his great-grandfather. “My customers are not concerned with price; they ask for the best,” he said. “The three key elements are breed, diet and curing.”
While touring the company’s building, I received a master class. Each leg of ham spends about nine days covered in salt; it hangs for weeks in winter temperatures, so the salt penetrates deeply, then for months in summer heat, prompting a “sweating” process by which the fat further permeates the muscle fibers. This happens in cavernous chambers devoid of machinery, where windows are opened or shut depending on winds and humidity. When summer ends, the hams are moved to a dark cellar where they age for two or more years, intensifying their aroma and flavor, much like a fine wine.
Joselito uses only hogs that are 100 percent Iberian. A whole leg, aged three years, starts at $1,000 in Spain, about $50 a pound. (Not all hams called Ibérico are acorn-fed. The label must include the word bellota.) In spite of so much tantalizing talk amid mesmerizing rows of sweet-smelling hams, no amuse-bouche was offered, and we left with empty stomachs. It was only later, savoring our memorable dinner in Cáceres, that we quelled our cravings.
After a good night’s rest at the NH Palacio de Oquendo, a renovated 16th-century palace in the old quarter, we had breakfast alfresco on the edge of the main plaza. Nothing beats a good cortado, the strong Spanish coffee, before a long drive.
The curvy, oak-lined southern roads led us to Jabugo, a village of plain white houses that lives and breathes jamón. There I met Maximiliano Portes, who in 2002 created the online brand Maximiliano Jabugo. His customers, he said, are everyday people who order airtight, pre-sliced cold cuts. Modern marketing notwithstanding, the only way to achieve high quality is through a slow, artisanal curing process. Mr. Portes’s hams hang in a thick-walled cellar, where meat has been cured since 1900. In fact, Jabugo’s quiet cobblestone streets, dotted with modest bars where local workers meet for afternoon drinks, showed no signs of modernity.
As we headed back north to Badajoz, a heavy rain slowed us. By the time we reached Rocamador, a rural hotel and restaurant in a 500-year-old former monastery, it was 11 p.m. and our stomachs were growling. Thanks to the Spanish custom of late dining, the kitchen was still open.
Though I was tempted by pork cheeks in a creamy vegetable sauce, for a change of pace I ordered thyme-seasoned suckling lamb with roasted potatoes. A glass of hearty Extremadura red was the perfect complement. Back in my country-chic room, aided by a lullaby of rattling leaves, I fell into a deep sleep.
In the morning I met Carlos Tristancho, owner of the hotel and surrounding land. He is a partner at País de Quercus, a company that sells organic meats to distinguished restaurants like Mugaritz and El Celler de Can Roca. A former actor, director and producer, Mr. Tristancho is an irrepressible, middle-age character who talks about love, sex and the soul the way most people discuss the weather.
During a rambling and wildly entertaining conversation, he spoke passionately of the importance of preserving Spain’s estimated seven million acres of dehesa. “This is an example of sustainability; some of the oaks here are 1,000 years old,” he said. Ideally, each animal needs six acres to roam, he said; if this balance is not respected, the ecosystem could be in danger
Soon we were headed to Madrid, laughing about how we had blushed at Mr. Tristancho’s bawdy comments. But while our road trip was ending, my food quest persisted. For various reasons, I had not yet sampled a Joselito ham; I knew I could not leave Spain until I had.
A few hours before my flight to New York, I walked to a gourmet shop on upscale Serrano Street. The man behind the counter carefully carved a few slices with a long knife and handed me a bite. He raised his eyebrows inquisitively. A pungent, slightly sweet and nutty flavor filled my mouth as the fat immediately melted away, revealing sea-salted, tender strings of meat. I can still taste it if I close my eyes.
The Grape Once Again Proves Its Versatility
Florence Fabricant
Balsamic is not the only mellow Italian vinegar with a pedigree. Centuries ago, the Este family of Ferrara produced sopraffino. Unlike classic balsamic, it is made from red grapes (not white), which are not cooked but instead concentrated by natural evaporation during aging, similar to Spanish sherry vinegar.
In 2000, a descendant of the Este line began making the dark, lush, well-balanced vinegar again, to drizzle on grilled fish or chicken, or in another season, on ripe tomatoes.
Spain is the source of a different richly concentrated grape product, arrope. It is similar to Italian saba, but more viscous, with toasty opulence. Spoon it on cheesecake, over poached pears or on fresh pineapple. A variation, arrope y tallaetes, is more syrupy, with pieces of candied pumpkin, and is delicious alongside cheese or cured ham.
Mitica arrope y tallaetes is $9.95 for 8.4 ounces from tienda.com.
The Best Online Grocery Sites
From bakeries to mushroom foragers, most small-scale food purveyors now have e-tail websites. If you're felled by a hankering, chances are one of them can fill it. Meanwhile, here are a few of our favorites.
La Tienda: This is your one stop for ingredients and prepared foods from Spain, including salt-packed capers, roasted peppers, chorizo sausage, and cod croquettes. LaTienda.com
The 2010 SAVEUR 100 List
Michael Klashman
They're like a crispbread but more luscious; a tortilla but crunchier; a cookie but not as sugary. Whatever they are, Ines Rosales Olive Oil Tortas, made by hand according to a century-old recipe in Seville, Spain, are heavenly. I'm addicted to the sesame–sea salt variety and the sweet anise kind, which I eat with slices of Serrano ham.
Essential Spanish Ingredients
Amy Albert
A soulful mix of bright, briny, and smoky, Spanish food is one of the most enduring trends of the year. Down-to-earth yet sophisticated, these flavors are best served simply. Here are six exciting ingredients that will bring the taste of Spain into your cooking.
1. Matiz Organic Piquillo Peppers
Of all the delicious piquillos we tested, these wood-roasted organic peppers were the standouts. With their silky texture and resinous kick, they're ideal as a topper for goat cheese crostini or stuffed with high-quality canned tuna.
2. Ibérico de Bellota Ham
A splurge, but it's prosciutto's rock-star cousin (cured for more than two years; made from free-range pigs that feed on grass and acorns). Buttery, nutty, and hauntingly sweet, a little goes a long way. Perfect with a glass of cava (Spain's famed sparkling wine). $49 for 4 ounces; 800-710-4304; jamon.com
3. Mild White Anchovy Fillets in Oil and Vinegar
Firm, bright-tasting, yet not salty, white anchovies, or boquerones, are a universe away from the canned variety. Try them draped over romaine lettuce and drizzled with olive oil. $13.50 for 3.17 ounces; 800-710-4304; latienda.com
4. El Rey de La Vera Smoked Paprika
If there's one spice that shouts "Spain," it's the paprika known as Pimentón de La Vera. Made from oak-fire-dried peppers, it lends smoky sweetness to spice rubs, scrambled eggs, and salmon cakes. There's sweet (dulce) or spicy (picante), which packs heat.
5. Señorío de Vizcántar Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Varieties like Picual, Picudo, and Hojiblanca are what give Spanish olive oil its distinctive flavor. With full-on fruitiness balanced by a peppery bite, this one would be great over soup, salad, or a bowl of white beans. $17.95 for a 17-ounce bottle; 800-710-4304; latienda.com
6. PataCabra Goat Cheese
You know about the terrific sheep's-milk cheeses from Spain, but have you tried Spanish goat's-milk cheese? PataCabra is semisoft, tangy, and creamy, with complex flavors and subtle earthiness. This would make one deluxe mac and cheese or grilled cheese sandwich.
Photograph by Jamie Chung
Top 10 Sites for Mail-Order Delicacies
Elizabeth Large
At this point if you haven't gotten your holiday shopping done and are a sane human being, you probably don't feel like going to the mall to finish up.
I vaguely remember a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote about only giving things that are transitory, like delicious food. (He probably didn't say "like delicious food.") At this point your best bet is to pick up the phone or get online and order something wonderful to eat for your ungifted friends and family.
I know you know about Harry & David. I sometimes think if we all just picked up the phone and ordered a box of Comice pears for ourselves, we would eliminate the circular giving and not have to write a thank you note. This list is different.
This Top 10 Tuesday of the best sites for gourmet goodies should give you some new ideas: ...
Amadeus Vanilla Beans: for the serious cook, gourmet vanilla beans from Uganda, plus all sorts of vanilla extract.
Avocado of the Month Club: If your friend loves avocados as much as I do, this is the perfect gift.
Cajun Grocer: Here you can order a turducken (not sure why you'd want to), but also crawfish, gumbo, boudin, sauces and marinades and sweets.
Great Alaska Seafood: Wild salmon, smoked salmon, king crab legs, shrimp and free shipping. (Of course, this isn't a budget gift.)
La Tienda: Spanish delicacies including cheeses, Serrano ham, chorizo, saffron, olives and sweets.
Liberty Ducks: This is one food gift I promise will not be duplicated: large, meaty ducks (the kind preferred by restaurant chefs) from a Sonoma County farmer.
Mackenzie Limited: A Baltimore company that ships all sorts of gourmet treats, some of them local, including Smith Island cake.
Spice House: An impressive selection of gift boxes with themes, like the Curry Lover's Gift Box, the Peppercorn Gift Box and the Salad Veggie Lover Box.
Sweet Maria's: Coffee aficionados should try roasting their own coffee beans, and this place has a huge selection of green coffee beans plus all the info and equipment you need.
Young Plantations: Pecan lovers will appreciate the variety on this site. You can send anything from premium pecans to pecan pies from this South Carolina company.
(Photo courtesy of Mackenzie Limited Web site)
Cyber Monday: Local companies bank on Cyber Monday shoppers
Veronica Chufo
A La Tienda packer stuffed a cardboard box with chorizo, cheese, chocolate and cookies.
The products, imported from Spain, were packed in a Toano warehouse and destined for Key Largo, Fla. — another Cyber Monday order fulfilled.
The Monday after Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday has emerged as a popular day to continue online the holiday shopping that started during the Black Friday weekend. Internet retailers mark the day with sales and promotions, and local retailers with an Internet presence are no different.
La Tienda, a Toano-based company that sells products imported from Spain, has been offering specials all weekend. On Cyber Monday, it unveiled a free shipping promotion, good on orders of $99 or more through Sunday.
Cyber Monday is generally the second-biggest day for the company's sales. The biggest is two Mondays before Christmas, said Tim Harris, co-CEO.
"Lunch, it peaks," Harris said of La Tienda's Internet sales. "I hate to admit it, but it's during the work day that the majority of ordering happens. We see a slight jump after dinner, before prime time."
La Tienda started in 1996 as an Internet-only operation. The catalog came along about six years ago, followed by a retail location that opened last week at 1325 Jamestown Road in James City County.
The Thanksgiving -through- Christmas season is about 30 percent of the company's business, and the company's staff more than doubles from 20 to 50, Harris said.
Christmastime makes up 85 percent to 90 percent of sales for Smithfield Specialty Foods, a division of Smithfield Foods, said Alexa Ricketts, director of catalog marketing. The division includes the Genuine Smithfield Ham Shoppe retail stores in Smithfield and Williamsburg and several Web sites, including smithfieldmarketplace.com, smithfieldhams.com, smithfieldcollection.com, basseschoice.com and thepeanutshop.com.
This year's Cyber Monday sales could outpace last year's, Ricketts said.
"Things are going pretty good," she said. "We're very pleased with what we're seeing."
Last year, Cyber Monday Internet sales doubled in volume for the Virginia Diner despite a Web site that was hard to navigate.
The popular restaurant on Route 460 in Wakefield also operates an Internet and mail-order business selling peanuts and ham.
Christmas is 80 percent of its Internet and catalog business, said Chris Epperson, president.
This year, the company launched a new Web site a month ago to be ready for the cyber-shopping rush. It offered a $10-off-$50 promotion on Monday.
This is the first time Taste Unlimited, headquartered in Virginia Beach, offered a Cyber Monday promotion, said Amy Jordan, director of marketing and public relations.
Most of its business is through its six retail stores, including one in City Center at Oyster Point.
"Christmas is huge for us," she said. "A lot of people think of us for lunch, but we're also very much in the gift business."
Cyber Monday is one of the biggest Internet sales days for the Williamsburg Marketplace, which sells Colonial Williamsburg-inspired items to benefit the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, said Tom Shrout, a Colonial Williamsburg spokesman. The site, williamsburgmarketplace.com, offered 25 percent off Monday.
Whitley's Peanut Factory (whitleyspeanut.com) wasn't offering any Cyber Monday promotions but saw an increase in sales Monday, said Dee Kattan of Whitley's. The company, which has a factory in Hayes and retail stores in Gloucester and Williamsburg, plans to launch a sale today.
Women's fashion catalogs Newport News and Spiegel offered 25 percent off Monday and saw a 50 percent increase over a normal day's sales by mid-afternoon, said Geralynn Madonna, president and CEO. The company operates a distribution center in Newport News.
For Rock Bottom Golf, which has a warehouse in Suffolk, Cyber Monday is one of the biggest sales days of the year, if not the biggest, said Brian Schwank, director of marketing for the Rochester, N.Y.-based company.
It offered a 15-percent-off promotion that ran Nov. 24 until Cyber Monday.
"We should definitely end up better than last year, from the stats that I'm seeing so far today," he said. "It'll definitely be one of the biggest days of the year."
What is Cyber Monday?
The Monday after Thanksgiving has become the day that Internet retailers offer their own sales and promotions to offer consumers a chance to continue their holiday shopping after the Black Friday weekend sales.
Winter 2009 Gift Guide
Red Gold
Roxanne Webber
Gathering gift ideas is almost as satisfying as receiving gifts. But not quite. Make the people on your list happy with the wide variety of options here, from cheap to splurge and from delicious food products to products that enable delicious food.
A luxurious gift for the food obsessed, this saffron comes from a 10-acre, family-run plot in La Mancha, Spain, that yields a harvest of about 50 pounds of saffron per year. It takes about 1,400 crocus flowers to fill the tin. Quarter Ounce Tin of Saffron by Princesa de Minaya, D.O. La Mancha, $79.95
Haute Stuff
Crystal Chow
Oh, goody, you received an invitation to a sumptuous dinner party or weekend stayover. Aside from what to wear, now you need to figure out a thoughtful hostess gift. Here are some edible presents that just might help score a repeat request for the pleasure of your company.
A mini paella kit from La Tienda contains all the fine ingredients needed for this hearty dish except the cook's choice of fresh meat, seafood and vegetables. Perfect for the hostess who wants to savor a taste of Spain. Serves two. $49.95 at www.tienda.com.
2009 Conde Nast Traveler Gift Guide
Julia Bainbridge
Roureda Licorella
"One of the hazards of writing about wine is that you can transform a previously obscure region suddenly into a star. That, in turn, brings star prices. Six years ago I watched this happen to the wines from Priorat, a rugged enclave southwest of Barcelona, after I reported from there in this magazine (For Whom The Wine Pours, December 2003). Some of the Priorat reds I tasted then were selling for $70 a bottle, and soon they were hitting $200. So here's the good news: You can find a 2005 vintage Priorat red that in every way is the quintessence of the region for $27.95. It's called Roureda Licorella (the flavors mingling in Priorat include a signature hint of licorice). Moreover, it's being offered at a discount by La Tienda, a specialist in gourmet products from Spain (including the finest olive oils and hams), so you could pair the wine with an exceptional ham, a sampler of Iberico de Bellota ($34.50), from a rare breed of acorn-fed porkers, a marriage made in foodie heaven."
Recommended by Clive Irving, Senior Consulting Editor
Season's Eatings
Black Gold
Oliver Slosser
Unavailable in the United States until 2008, Ibérico de Bellota is one of the world’s most coveted cuts of meat. The swine from which the bone-in ham is produced must be at least 75 percent black pig, a species found in parts of Spain and Portugal. The free-range pigs used for Ibérico de Bellota are fed an all-acorn diet, giving the meat an oily, nutty flavor that develops during two years of aging in the mountains near Salamanca, Spain. The Spanish-food importer La Tienda (800.710.4304, www.latienda.com) offers Ibérico de Bellota both sliced ($50 for 4 ounces) and whole ($1,400 for approximately 8.5 pounds).
Test Kitchen
Samantha Seneviratne
Sweet and succulent with smoky, tangy notes, piquillo peppers come from the village of Lodosa in the Navarra region of northern Spain. Named for their distinctive beak-like shape (piquillo means "little beak" in Spanish), these bright red peppers are handpicked in the fall, fire-roasted, and peeled. Some are even roasted right in the field after being harvested. You’ll find them in jars or tins packed in olive oil or their own rich juices. Look for the D.O. (Denominación de Origen) distinction on the label to be sure they’re the real deal.
Traditionally, piquillos are stuffed with either seafood or meat, but their uses extend far beyond. Swap them in wherever you would use regular roasted red peppers for a deeper, more intense flavor. Try them slivered on a salad or layered onto a sandwich. They can be blended for pasta sauce or chopped and used as a delicious and dressy relish garnish. We also like them straight out of the jar with a chunk of crusty bread and a sprinkle of salt.
You might find piquillos at a well-stocked grocery store, but they're generally more of a specialty store item.
$9.95 for an 8-oz jar, tienda.com, 800-710-4304.
