How to carve jamón

Carving jamón (also slicing jamón) means fixing the whole leg in a ham stand, trimming the rind and some of the fat, and taking very thin slices with a long flexible knife, moving from one part of the leg to the next. ASICI, the Iberian pig association, advises 2–3 mm slices at 20–24 °C; the serrano consortium sets the leg hoof up.

How much will you get? The serrano consortium did the sums for an 8.5 kg ham: 7.40 kg edible, about 87%. That is roughly 18 plates of 80 g from the contramaza and 47 from the maza.

You need a stand at hand height, flat and steady, and three knives: a long flexible ham knife of 22–30 cm for slicing, a wider, stiffer one of 14–22 cm for the rind and a short 13–16 cm blade for the bone, plus a sharpening steel.

The leg has several parts. The maza holds the most meat, tender and juicy. The babilla, or contramaza, is the driest and leanest, with a more intense taste. The tip (punta) is the juiciest and most aromatic. The jarrete is darker and fibrous and is cut into cubes, while the caña near the hoof is tougher and good for stock.

For serrano the consortium says: fix the leg hoof up, make a deep cut about 2 cm below the hock, peel off the rind and fat while leaving a thin protective layer, and start on the contramaza, moving the knife from hoof to tip. For ibérico ASICI starts on the maza with a slow zigzag, uses the short knife around the bone, then turns the leg over. So there is no single rule about which side comes first.

Serve on white plates without overlapping the slices. You can see when it is ready by the fat: at the right temperature it turns translucent. The consortium suggests eating serrano with bread, cheese, fruit, fish or vegetables.

Cover a started leg with pieces of its own fat and a clean cloth, and finish it within 3–4 days. White dots on the cut are tyrosine crystals, a sign of long, slow curing, and they are harmless.

Why this matters to you: a thin slice at 24 °C and a thick one straight from the fridge taste like two different products from the same leg. What you are carving is explained on the pages Jamón ibérico, Jamón serrano and Jamón.