How to slice a Cinco Jotas Iberico Ham

[music]

[man speaking in rapid Spanish; female
voice over translates throughout video]

The first question that arises

is where to start carving.
Which would be the ideal option,

to remove the skin all over the ham,
start slicing and combine slices

from different parts of the jamon
to make the perfect platter.

There are four different flavours,
four different aromas, in any given jamon.

For home consumption, it is always
the best to start with the shank, la maza.

In order to start carving,
we will need different tools,

which I consider to be
a good carver's best friends.

We need three knives: one for the rind,

another small, to separate the bones,

and the classic jamonero knife,
a long, thin-bladed and flexible knife,

in order to reach everywhere and optimise
the product as much as possible.

We take the knife with the wide blade

and make a small cut
two fingers above this small bone.

As you see, we will be removing
the rind as we consume the ham.

The temperature is very important
when tasting an Iberian ham.

We have two different temperatures
to take into consideration:

one for the conservation,
between 14 and 18 degrees centigrade;

and another one for the consumption,
between 20 and 24 degrees.

It is extremely important in order to
obtain optimum organoleptic sensations.

As you can see, we make a fine cleaning,
but only of the area we are going to consume.

The first rashers of fat are not to be
served, but we keep them aside,

to cover the ham and to preserve it
once we have finished cutting,

so that the next day it will still
be in the best condition for consumption.

As you can see,
we do not apply any pressure,

but slice the knife smoothly over the meat.

To me, this is the perfect slice:
very thin, transparent, ideal.

The aroma is really amazing.

With this small slice of ham we can
fully enjoy a good Cinco Jotas.

As we place pressure on the fat we can see
how easily it melts, which indicates quality.

And now we are going to use the short, sharp-
bladed knife called puntilla to marcar.

Marcar is to cut around the bone
so we can separate it from the meat

in order to optimise the product.
Why do we do this?

First, the thin, flexible knife will not
touch the bone when slicing,

so the slice comes out lean.
And second, and more important,

to make the most of this meat
stuck to the bone.

As you can see, since we have cut
around the bone with the small knife,

once we get to the bone area,
the slice jumps.

The long knife does not touch the bone,
and it is much easier for us

to carve this Cinco Jotas ham.

Now we take off the skin covering
the next area to be carved,

repeating what we did at the beginning.

We will do this the same way, and we
will clean as we consume the product.

Why do we make this little furrow?
For two reasons:

first, aesthetics, and second,
and more importantly,

because the furrow will retain
some natural jamon oil

that we will spread on the jamon before
covering it up for the next carving session.

Once we reach the hip bone,
we take again the knife puntilla

and we continue removing the bone,
which will help with the carving.

Once we have reached the bone area --
so here, as you can see, and here --

we touch the bone.
We will incline the knife

in order to carve as much as we can
from the shank, la maza.

We will uncover the butt part
or flank, contramaza.

Once we have cleaned all the external
area we will get rid of this little bone,

which is the meniscus, the knee.

Once we find it, we follow the bone
toward the femur and we twist the wrist

so the knife will end up in this position.

Then we lever. We should not force it.

The right way of doing it is twisting
and then levering.

Well, once we have gotten rid of this
little bone, our work will be much easier,

the carving much more comfortable,
and most of all,

we will not have the classic curve
that usually appears in this area.

We take the small knife again
to marcar once more.

It is simply to separate the bone area
in order to make our task easy

and to optimise the product.

Now when we continue carving,
the slices come out easily,

making the job much more pleasant.

As you can see,
this area has fewer infiltrations,

much less fat accumulated
between the muscle fibres,

but still a very appetising
part of the ham.

We are about to finish the ham, so we are
going to optimise the area of the knuckle,

jarrete,
the great unknown part of the ham.

We turn the ham a bit, a bit inclined,
so we are able to cut wider slices.

This is a part of the ham that leaves
such good sensations in the mouth.

The flavours remain.

As you see, if we turn the ham a bit,
we can carve very appetising slices.

Last part, but not the least,
is the knuckle, el jarrete.

As you can see, we are going to take out
this little bone by using the puntilla,

this little knife. And now,
we simply make a ... [snap]

We can either slice it or cut small
chunks from this area. Delicious!

That's it. We have just carved
the four different parts of this jamon,

optimising, making the most
of this Cinco Jotas.

If we combine purity of the race,
acorns diet,

the savoir faire of the people
from Jabugo,

we obtain a Cinco Jotas ham,
which is a real Spain's national treasure.