I love hams (jamón in Spanish or hamon in Tagalog spelling). Not the canned kind; it’s the one that people had painstakingly cured for some months. Every Christmas since the Spanish colonial period, well-to-do Filipinos make jamón as the centerpiece of the noche buena (“evening of goodness”, which is Christmas Eve), kinda like the turkey for the American thanksgiving. It is served after the misa de gallo (Catholic midnight mass) and the whole family (or rather the extended family) would gather in the comedor (“dining room).
This tradition has been passed down to us and I remember there were lean times when we were kids and didn’t have the jamón and my lolo (abuelo in Spanish; grandfather) would just cook his legendary American Southern fried chicken (he used to be a cook in the US in the 1920s or 30s). I would only taste jamón during Christmas that’s why I’m so fond of it. It evokes Christmases in Batangas, where my parents are from, and later on Christmases spent in my hometown after my grandparents had passed. Jamón reminded me of the times I would go home from Manila for Christmas and go AWOL after Dec 16 and only reappear in our office after Jan 2. I would make ham sandwiches to take to my room while I reread the entire Lord of the Rings book set, including Silmarillion and The Hobbit for a week or less.
Not all jamóns are created equal. The Filipino hamon is the sweet kind given the Filipinos’ propensity for sweet food. It’s cured in wet brine with other spices. Then it is brushed and baked or boiled in azucar or brown sugar (especially in sugar plantation areas of Central Philippines or Western Visayas) or pineapple juice. I heard some people smoke it.
Meanwhile, my mom’s favorite is the Chinese ham. She told me of her good memories of when they were young, my lolo would bring home a whole hind leg of pork that he cured in salt and some spices and dried for months. And he would hang it over the stove to be smoked and he would cut small pieces of it for them to eat slowly. For this type of ham, I think I like the local Chinese ham by Majestic and Excelente. I remember bringing home one entire leg of ham and my mother enjoyed every bite of it.
But the best one, which Jeffrey Steingarten even waxed lyrical about, is the jamón Iberico. After I gorged myself with it with some red and white wine and tapas in one Aboitiz party (where I think all the Spanish families of the Philippines congregated for one night), I have concluded it is the best tasting ham there is. And the most expensive.
Jamon Iberico has some salt to it but it is faint. It is cut very thinly, almost paper-like, for you to taste its gentle but complex flavor. Other people may mistake it for prosciutto but the latter is too salty. Jamon Iberico can stand on its own without cheese and toast when you’re drinking wine before dinner.
I may be committing a crime here but I ate my jamon Iberico de bellota with rice for today’s brunch (I was so hungry!) I couldn’t drink wine and I had to give some bottles away so I had the jamon with C2 tea (OK, you can nail me to the cross now).
It was lovely, lovely, lovely.
For dinner tonight, I heated on my tamagoyaki pan some slices of Filipino hamon to make ham sandwiches for dinner and brunch for tomorrow before I drive off to my hometown to spend the Christmas with my family sans the twins.
Speaking of diving off, my car ripped me off again. I had to have my clutch/water pump fan changed and have new blades installed this evening or else my engine would overheat and my compressor would need to work double time. My old clutch fan was already freewheeling, hence, it was no longer efficient and providing cool air for my diesel engine.
After I’m done with my tiny house’s construction, my next project will be a new car. A roomy car that can take three folding bikes and a tent.
