Manuel López: “Iberian ham is better than caviar, foie gras, and truffles”

Introduction

Iberian ham has a secret: umami. It pairs best with cava or champagne, and it’s best enjoyed freshly sliced. These are some of the key insights that ham affineur Manuel López shared in 2012 in the back page of *La Vanguardia* with Víctor Amela, which we reproduce below.

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Manuelo López: I’m 43 years old. I’m from Barcelona. I’m a ham curing specialist. I’m married, and we have a son, Mauro (2). Politics? Those who have more should help those who have less. Although I don’t believe in God, I believe in the social values of Christianity. By looking at and feeling the hams, I know which ones will be the best.

Tastings
Spain produces 40 million hams each year, of which only half a million come from Iberian pigs, and of those, one-fifth are the very best. And no one knows more about these than this man: since he was 14, he has been handling and slicing ham after ham at his family’s deli counter in La Boqueria. He later earned his MBA and applied it to what he loves most in the world: pure acorn-fed Iberian ham. He hopes we’ll learn as much about ham as we do about wine: its “vintages”—based on the amount of acorns consumed—and the subtle flavor nuances within a single leg of ham. He explains these details beautifully during the tastings he organizes at his shop in Barcelona, Reserva Ibérica.

 

The Interview

How many hams have you sliced in your life?
Three a day for 25 years… That’s about 27,000 hams! Would you like me to cut you a thin slice of this Iberian ham?

Why do I like Iberian ham so much?
Because it has umami

What is “umami”?
The fifth taste. It was discovered by a Japanese researcher studying a certain type of seaweed.

Describe that flavor to me.
Beyond salty, sweet, bitter, and sour, it’s addictive… Try this ham!

Hmm…
It’s a unique, truly one-of-a-kind, distinctive flavor: we have a culinary treasure!

What kind of ham did you just give me?
A slice (cut to perfection) of Iberian ham of the very highest quality.

What does a well-sliced slice look like?
Sliced very thinly. And short. So it fits whole in your mouth and the fat melts… What a sin it is not to slice a great ham properly!

What do you mean by “exceptional quality”?
The ham from an Iberian-breed pig raised on the dehesa, castrated, that has eaten grass and acorns, that has run and trotted, slaughtered at just the right time (January is the best month), and whose leg has been salted, cured, dried in a drying room, and aged in a cellar under the precise conditions…

Isn’t all Iberian ham like that?
No, because there is “recebo” Iberian ham (raised on pasture, acorn-fed… and supplemented with feed), there is “cebo de campo” Iberian ham (raised in the countryside, not acorn-fed, and fed only feed), and there is “cebo” Iberian ham (raised in a barn and fed only feed).

Can you tell the difference between them?
Of course! That’s why the law should clearly distinguish between Iberian ham from the dehesa and industrial Iberian ham.

How is exceptional quality achieved?
Raise an Iberian pig in the dehesa, among holm oaks, feeding it only grass and acorns; slaughter it at the ideal time and cure it under perfect conditions. That’s what I do!

What, exactly?
I inspect and select the best pieces.

Is that what it means to be a “ham refiner”?
In France, there are “cheese refiners” who oversee the aging process to produce the best possible cheeses… I do the same with Iberian ham legs, and that’s how I get the best ones.

And how many legs does it get each year?
About four thousand—for my business and for export to my partner in Japan.

Is Iberian ham well-known abroad?
It’s not much yet, but as soon as they try it, their faces light up—they’re blown away!

Another slice, please…
Here you go… Iberian ham surpasses the three culinary gems: caviar, foie gras, and truffles.

Explain why:
It surpasses them thanks to its superior flavor nuances and nutritional qualities.

Is Iberian ham very nutritious?
It is a food rich in B vitamins and antioxidants. Its fat contains oleic acid, the same as in extra virgin olive oil, which helps keep our arteries healthy. This quality sets Iberian ham apart from other hams, such as Serrano and prosciutto.

Is this due to the pig’s breed?
Yes, a native breed of pig with genetics that cause fat to mar the meat, making it so flavorful! That fat absorbs and stores the flavors of everything the pig eats.

Really? Can you taste the acorns?
Of course! And if there are cork oaks, you can really taste that note. And from the aromatic shrubs, too. I once tried a ham—and I could taste the thyme! I’d eaten too much.

Where does your work as a “ham tuner” begin?
I seek out small-scale farmers who lovingly raise their Iberian pigs and the artisanal curing facilities that take great care in the curing process of their hams.

Aren’t most people the ones who do it that way?
One-fifth of the 500,000 Iberian ham legs produced each year (on average). And there I go: I feel the legs, oversee their curing… I’ve felt and sliced so many hams since I was 14 that I know which ones will be really good!

What are the designations of origin for Iberian ham?
There are four: Huelva, Guijuelo, Dehesa de Extremadura, and Valle de los Pedroches.

Which one is your favorite ham?
It depends… The one from Huelva (that’s where the Jabugo brand comes from) has notes of nuts; the one from Guijuelo has sweeter notes, like toasted sugar. The one from Extremadura is somewhere in between.

What’s the best way to enjoy good Iberian ham?
Freshly sliced. Eaten with your fingers. And you don’t need anything else—ham is the “golden bachelor” of gastronomy, according to Arzak.

And what should I drink with it?
The best pairing is a glass of cava, which refreshes the palate. Or a small glass of fino or manzanilla—a great regional pairing. Red wine, on the other hand… is too overpowering on the palate: it doesn’t pair well with Iberian ham!

What’s your favorite part of the leg?
Because of its intense flavor, I like the ham from the tip of the leg that’s closest to the hip bone.

What are those little white dots I sometimes see on the surface of the ham?
Crystallized amino acids—so good!

What’s the best ham you can remember ever tasting?
I was 15 years old. I went on a hike with friends, we stopped to eat in the woods, I took out my homemade ham sandwich, and… I still haven’t forgotten that amazing taste!

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Originally published in La Vanguardia’s “La Contra” section
(+download PDF)
April 12, 2012