Already got a ham at home?
\nWhether you are one of the lucky ones who received a ham for Christmas or maybe you buy this wonderful product all year round, you might be interested in our recommendations on how to keep your ham at home in the best possible condition.<\/p>\n
Let’s start with a few guidelines if you don\u2019t want to tuck in straight away. The first thing you should know is that ham is a living product. This means that it is going to continue maturing right up to when it is eaten. Consequently, it is very important how and where you keep it. If it came in a cotton cover, the first thing you should do is take this off<\/strong>, as it can be the ideal place for mites and mould to appear. The same happens if it comes in a box. It would be best to \u2018undress\u2019 the piece and, if possible, hang it from its rope in a dry, cool place.<\/strong> If you have a spacious pantry, this would be the perfect place. If not, a basement or a garage will do. However, we recommend that, if the ham has come out of its natural drying area with the right level of curing, you should start eating it straight away.<\/p>\n Once the ham has been started, we come across an infinite number of theories. So, far from dispelling false myths or going against what so many professionals might say, we are simply going to give you a few tips from someone we think is extremely knowledgeable about ham in our country: ham cutter Pedro Jos\u00e9 P\u00e9rez Casco<\/strong>. From his butcher\u2019s shop in Puebla de la Calzada (Badajoz), Pedro tells us not only how he does this professionally but also what we can do at home. When covering it,<\/strong> Pedro gives us two tips depending on how long<\/strong> you think you\u2019re going to wait before cutting it again. If this time does not exceed 48 hours, after rubbing it with its own fat, you can cover the cutting area with transparent film (not the whole piece, only the part that we have opened up with the cutting and the fat). However, the plastic is going to stop any humidity from escaping, which is the ham\u2019s natural way of drying. Consequently, you should not cover your ham with film for more than these two days as undesirable mould will start to grow and if it doesn\u2019t ruin the whole piece, you\u2019ll certainly have to throw away the affected parts.<\/p>\n If you think that you are not going to cut your ham for a while, the best thing to do, after rubbing the fat, is to cover it with a clean cotton cloth to stop the light affecting its properties.<\/p>\n Professionally,<\/strong> if the ham is to be left for several days, Pedro\u2019s recommendation is to use waxed aluminium foil<\/strong>. The waxed side should be in contact with the fatty film that we have created, whilst the aluminium will protect it from the light. Given that this type of paper is usually found in butcher\u2019s shops, but it is not easy to buy it in regular stores, you might use separate waxed paper and then aluminium foil from your regular store and try this professional trick in your own home.<\/p>\n We know that this is a contentious issue, as the saying going: \u201ccada maestrillo tiene su librillo\u201d (there\u2019s more than one way to skin a cat). We\u2019d encourage you<\/strong> to give Pedro Jos\u00e9 P\u00e9rez Casco\u2019s tips a try and show us how you keep your ham<\/strong> in your own homes. We hope we\u2019ve helped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Already got a ham at home? Whether you are one of the lucky ones who received a ham for Christmas or maybe you buy this wonderful product all year round, you might be interested in our recommendations on how to keep your ham at home in the best possible condition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[161],"tags":[317],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2137,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734\/revisions\/2137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOnce you have finished cutting, always using the right knives<\/a>, collect up the fat that you\u2019ve removed from the ham and rub the surface of the cut on its whitest part<\/strong>, particularly the lean part. You can get a similar effect by scratching the marbling with the blade of your knife and spreading the fat like butter. This leaves a fine protective layer, similar to what the ham would have naturally, thereby stopping it from drying out and oxidising.<\/p>\n