Spanish Ham in Great Spanish Literature
As we have already seen, ham is deeply ingrained in Spanish popular culture. A product that has occupied a central place on the tables of the entire peninsula for centuries, today Iberico ham has become part of the backbone of Spanish identity. When you dig a little into the literature of the Spanish-speaking world, we can quickly find references to ham - and not just in the recipe-books!
Ham in the Literature of Antiquity
It is difficult to set a specific date defining the starting point of Spanish ham culture. Certainly, techniques and ways of life of the ancient Iberian settlers produced something like ham long before anyone used the word "ham” in a text!
But if we stick to the documents, the first to mention ham was Cato, who lived in the third and second centuries BC. In his De Agri Cultura, Cato establishes the first recipe with all steps for the development of this product, including how it should be salted, washed, dried, dipped in oil, smoked and conserved.
A menu including ham, from Pompeii
Later, in the first century AD, Strabo refers to hams in his Geographica after a trip through the peninsula. According to him, the Kerretanoi, an Iberian people who inhabited the Western Pyrenees, "produced excellent hams, comparable to the Cantabrians".
Ham and the Golden Age
The Golden Age of Spanish letters left lots of references to ham, at a time when the pork industry was becoming popular throughout the peninsula and a good ham was the ideal companion for any traveler. This fact is reflected in an abundance of references to ham in the literature of the time.
For instance, in La Celestina, Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla says: "There’s enough in the pantry not to fall into starvation: white bread, Montviedro wine and an ham...". The poet Baltasar de Alcazar also cites the ham in the poem Three Things as one of his three favorite things in life besides his beautiful Agnes and eggplant with cheese.
La Celestina - Tragicomedy of Callisto and Melibea
The fame of the ham-producing regions that today produce the best products is expressed in works of such renowned authors as Cervantes, who in his The Fraudulent Marriage recommends slices of Córdoba ham to cure a convalescent. The same applies to Lope de Vega, in his Epistle to the Accountant Gaspar de Barrionuevo where he refers to Huelva hams: "Spanish ham from the famous Sierra de Aracena.”
Ham and Contemporary Literature
In the year 1958, two Spanish literary giants crossed paths. One, Rafael Alberti, was an exile from Franco’s regime. The other, Nicolás Guillén, met him in Buenos Aires after fleeing the Machado dictatorship in Cuba and then the fascist occupation of France.
Portrait of Rafael Alberti
As a token of appreciation, Guillen gave Albertia ham and with it, a sonnet, which Alberti duly answered. The result was a feast of ham, in which several common friends shared a bohemian wedding, reading each other’s sonnets, all on a rainy day.
More recently we can include Camilo José Cela’s comment about ham, which explains that it can be enjoyed through smell, but also by sight and taste. "It has a characteristic of blessed bite", states his strong praise of the ham.
These small fragments serve to get an idea of the importance of this precious delicacy in Spanish society, through their great writers. And in the words of a traditional Spanish saying: "Put me in the sun and give me wine and ham!”
Todo sobre el jamón
Contenido
- 1 Tipos de jamón ibérico
- 2 Cómo consumir jamón ibérico
- 3 Cortar jamón ibérico
- 4 Cómo conservar el jamón ibérico
- 5 Maridaje del jamón ibérico
- 6 Ley de calidad del jamón ibérico
- 7 La Dehesa
- 8 Denominaciones de origen del jamón ibérico
- 9 Propiedades nutricionales del jamón ibérico de bellota
- 10 Recetas con jamón
- 11 Diferencias entre jamón ibérico y jamón serrano
- 12 Diferencias entre paletilla y jamón ibérico
- 13 Diferencias entre jamón ibérico y jamón serrano
- 14 Jamón ibérico y sus competidores en el mundo
- 15 Propiedades nutricionales del jamón ibérico
- 16 Denominación de origen del jamón ibérico
- 17 Zonas de elaboración del jamón y del jamón pata negra
- 18 Jamón cortado a mano o a máquina
- 19 Museos del jamón ibérico en el mundo
- 20 Cata de jamón ibérico: todos los secretos
- 21 Ruta del jamón ibérico
- 22 El jamón ibérico de bellota y su maridaje ideal
- 23 Proceso de elaboración de los embutidos ibéricos
- 24 Historia de los embutidos ibéricos
- 25 IVA para el jamón: preguntas y respuestas
- 26 El jamón en la literatura
- 27 Curiosidades del jamón ibérico
- 28 Cómo conservar el jamón serrano
- 29 Normativa de calidad del jamón serrano
- 30 Elaboración del jamón serrano
- 31 Denominaciones de origen del jamón serrano
- 32 Propiedades nutricionales del jamón serrano
- 33 Recetas con jamón serrano
- 34 Tipos de jamón serrano
- 35 Maridaje del jamón serrano
- 36 Cómo consumir jamón serrano
- 37 Cortar jamón serrano
- 38 Todos los secretos sobre la cata de jamón pata negra
- 39 Cómo elegir un buen soporte jamonero
- 40 Cuál es el mejor jamón pata negra?
- 41 Es correcto el término jamón pata negra?
- 42 Jamón pata negra y dehesa
- 43 Los secretos del maridaje del jamón pata negra
- 44 ¿Cómo saber qué jamón comprar?
- 45 ¿Por qué el buen jamón es tan caro?
- 46 ¿Cómo comprar jamón en tiendas online?
- 47 Mitos y realidades, beneficios y prejuicios del jamón
- 48 ¿El jamón ibérico engorda?
- 49 ¿Qué hacemos con el hueso del jamón?
- 50 ¿Por qué solemos colgar el jamón?
- 51 Jamón y embarazo: ¿Se puede incluir el jamón ibérico en la dieta de las embarazadas?
- 52 El rol del jamón en el crecimiento y desarrollo de los niños
- 53 Consejos para conservar el jamón
- 54 ¿Qué es el perfilado del jamón y por qué se hace?
- 55 Nuevas tecnologías y jamón - Resonancia magnética en la cata del jamón - Imágenes espectrales
- 56 El cerdo ibérico comienza a emigrar
- 57 Embutidos: Origen, composición y clasificación
- 58 Elaboración de jamones y paletas
- 59 Guía de Cata del Jamón Ibérico
- 60 Elementos diferenciales de calidad en jamón y embutidos “ibéricos”
- 61 El mapa del jamón en España
- 62 Propiedades de la grasa del jamón ibérico
- 63 Cómo transportar jamón ibérico y otros alimentos en vuelos internacionales
- 64 Prevalencia de patógenos y beneficios de los ácidos orgánicos en la producción de cerdos