Museum of Ham

When you turn onto Carrera de San Jerónimo in Madrid, about halfway up the block you see a building with bright yellow backlit signs and flashing red and blue neon lights harkening from down the street. It looks strangely like either an adult novelty shop in the night on the Pennsylvania turnpike or the Ripley’s Believe it or Not on Hollywood Blvd. in LA. Once you get close enough to read the signs, you realize all this roadside attraction flare is beckoning from the Museo del Jamón, yup, the ham museum (it seems to be a local chain so, like skipping the many Bulldogs of Amsterdam in favor of the one in the red light district, make your Museo del Jamón this one when dipping your toe in the well of well-touristed spots).

Regardless of my appreciation for kitsch, this place looks overdone, until you are within about 100 feet and you realize there are maybe 1000 Serrano hams hanging from every available inch. There is a counter running along one wall displaying every single type of cured meat you can imagine from simple salamis and non-pig offerings (which I am sure some people want) to the hams of the pata negra, the famous black-footed pigs of Iberia. How famous? How sought after are the pigs of the Iberian Peninsula? So much so that in my somewhat absurd phrase book rife with useful sentences for travelers like, “I have swallowed my contact lens,” you can easily find how to say, “I would like the ham of a young pig that was fed on acorns.”  Hanging over a case of sausages, patés, and bacons are variations on the true star, ham. Everything from Serrano hams made from white pigs to extra aged (extremo) hams, to hams made only from the center muscle of the leg, considered the finest part. It truly is glorious.

Like the prosciuttos of Parma before them, Iberian hams were not legal for import to the States for quite a long time. Unlike their Italian brethren from Parma, though, the best hams of Iberia, Serrano hams, aren’t really wanting for a new market so only one or two makers have gone through the requirements set by the USDA to qualify them for import. At this point their sausages have started arriving, but since there is time involved in the aging of Serrano ham, those will arrive some day soon, but not yet.

At the moment you must travel to enjoy true Iberian hams. Maybe that’s why it seems so fun to wiggle your way into a crowd at the ham museum and stand around a center island bar with small beers, just to clearly embrace tourism. Maybe it's because it is the greatest cured meat in the world. Eat the fat, taste the acorns, you tell me.

Comments

[chris]

i have been to this place. worth the trip by far. never seen anything like it since. the sight of all those hams with theire little drip cups at the bottom is amazing.

[Nica]

One visit to Museo Jamon and you'l think it gives the Prado a run for its money! If you want a real treat, the top ham maker in Spain is Joselito and their best is the Jamon Iberico de bellota Joselito Gran Reserva. It can be hard to find, but worth the search. They don't serve it at the bar in the Museo Jamon, but I bet the market part of the "museum" would carry it.

[Marco Romano]

I would be in ham heaven. Serrano Ham isn't imported yet? So what I bought in Great Barrington MA last year was not the real deal? It was good nevertheless. I prefer a med-body red from Jumilla or Ribera del Duero with some age and wood. Of course, if I was in Madrid today, I'd probably opt for beer. Enjoy the blog. Your father taught you well.

[Jose Sánchez]

Just to clarify a few concepts about spanish ham... Top quality spanish ham is known as "jamón ibérico de bellota", which would literally translate as "iberian acorn ham". This actually means that it is ham coming from Iberian race pigs, which are fed with acorns and grasses while they are raised in the wild, in south-western Spain pasturelands known as "dehesas". These hams undergo a salting and dry curing process of at least 24 months. They are VERY expensive, a single 7kg ham often priced at 400 euros or above. Due to these semi-artisanal production methods, production of this kind of ham is very limited, and it is mostly consumed inside Spain.
"Serrano" ham is the name by which most people know "ham coming from Spain"; it actually englobes a pretty wide range of ham qualities, all of which are far, far away from the "jamon iberico de bellota". Spaniards use this name to refer to the dry-cured ham of standard quality that one can easily find in supermarkets and regular stores.
"Jamon iberico de bellota" is also sometimes referred to as "jamón pata negra" ("black hoof ham"), because iberian race pigs have a dark skin and a black hoof. This term, although widely used, is not as reliable, because it is the mixture of 3 factors (race + feeding & raising + curing process) that determines the quality of the final product, not just race.