Using Spanish Ham on passage

Petronella

Petronella

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We are currently in Spain before setting off to the Caribbean. They have fantastic dried hams here. I wondered about hanging one in the rigging and eating our way through it as we cross.

Will this work or will it go mouldy or spoil?
 
The hams are very good.
Some are very expensive though. Up to 180 Euros per kilo.

I would have thought they would be fine if they do not get wet often.
 
Heat will be your enemy, and certainly the sun.
Two options: find somewhere ventilated and cool, if you can - bilges?
But the best bet is to get it sliced and vacuum packed in portions.
 
oldvarnish said:
Heat will be your enemy, and certainly the sun.
Two options: find somewhere ventilated and cool, if you can - bilges?
But the best bet is to get it sliced and vacuum packed in portions.
Click to expand...

I've never tried it, but my gut feeling is that it's more likely to go mouldy in the bilges than hung in the fresh air. Perhaps best out of direct sunlight, though.

Pete
 
oldvarnish said:
Heat will be your enemy, and certainly the sun.
Two options: find somewhere ventilated and cool, if you can - bilges?
But the best bet is to get it sliced and vacuum packed in portions.
Click to expand...

No sure heat is much of a problem - after all in shops in Spain they hang around for ages before being sold and many of those shops are very very warm in southern Spain.

It should probably be kept reasonably well ventilated. Personally I would hang it up in the saloon - the smell would be rather pleasant. I think keeping it dry is probably the most important bit.
 
Petronella said:
We are currently in Spain before setting off to the Caribbean. They have fantastic dried hams here. I wondered about hanging one in the rigging and eating our way through it as we cross.

Will this work or will it go mouldy or spoil?
Click to expand...
I have worked in a few restaurants/bars in Italy that did the same kind of curing process and if I didn't eat it all in a couple of days a dried ham would last a couple of months. I do not think the rigging is the best place though.

This page covers the same process we used to do, especially in keeping the first slice to protect the rest.
http://www.orceserranohams.com/how-to-store-spanish-ham/
 
We took one across the Atlantic and had no problem with mould, it was hung up in the galley (with a knife nearby), and slices and slithers were cut for all sorts of purposes. I think that we got ours from Lidl in Spain.
 
I love the stuff. I've brought them back to the uk a few times. Humidity is indeed the killer and one damp Yorkshire winter I did get flies and hence some very small maggots on freshly cut surfaces. Best to cover those with foil until they dry out.
Yum yum!
 
prv said:
I've never tried it, but my gut feeling is that it's more likely to go mouldy in the bilges than hung in the fresh air.
Click to expand...

You might be right, but surface mould is not necessarily a bad thing. If you go to a air-dried ham producer, you'll find the hams covered in it.
 
Last year we bought a Jamon Iberica in Las Palmas and took it to Martinique via Cape Verde. After 3 weeks it was still in good shape, but by then we had had enough and ceremoniously consigned its substantial remains to the deep. I think it cost us about 60 euros. The ham was delicious straight off the bone and was also excellent thinly sliced and fried in "bacon" rolls. We hung it from the stern gantry, wrapped loosely in a kikoy which eventually served as its shroud. Main problem was handling a sharp carving knife and a heavy, greasy, awkwardly shaped great lump of meat in a heavily rolling boat. Good luck!

DSCN0820.jpgDSCN0809.jpg
 
ripvan1 said:
Buy some chorizos as well to hang in the galley, last for ages, good snacks and add taste to the stew pot mmm
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And do't forget almost any of the other wonderful morcillas or sobrasadas which lasted a mid summer crossing to New York but the only downside is the drips which can be messy.
 
oldvarnish said:
You might be right, but surface mould is not necessarily a bad thing. If you go to a air-dried ham producer, you'll find the hams covered in it.
Click to expand...

Yep, but to me at least there feels like a difference between dank, slimy under-floor moulds and benign, clean-living fresh-air moulds. Probably irrational, but if it went mouldy in the bilges I'd throw it away, whereas if it had a coating of mould in the fresh air I'd treat it like cheese rind.

Pete
 
prv said:
Yep, but to me at least there feels like a difference between dank, slimy under-floor moulds and benign, clean-living fresh-air moulds. Probably irrational, but if it went mouldy in the bilges I'd throw it away, whereas if it had a coating of mould in the fresh air I'd treat it like cheese rind.

Pete
Click to expand...
Yes, I think you're right. My bilge idea might be a bad one.
 
pmagowan said:
They last fine. Hang it and simply slice bits off.
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In the smart restaurants in Madrid they leave the hams in a chrome plated wire cradle/stand and slice chunks off ( not thin slices like Parma ham) to serve to customers when needed.

Jabugo is the gourmet one, from pigs fed only on acorns and hams hung in caves to cure that have a particular fungus spore in the air I believe. I used to work for a Madrid company and really love those hams. Serrano ham is more available and good too and even available sliced in the UK, even LIDL carried it. I used to stock up on vacuum packs of it from Carrefour in Cherbourg too beats the heck out of the cr4p sold over here .
 
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