To safely slice a ham, it is essential to have the necessary utensils and tools:
Ham holder. There are many models, but the most important aspect is to ensure the stability of the piece during the cleaning and slicing processes, to ensure safety.
- Knives: a ham knife, long, narrow, flexible and well sharpened; a wider and shorter knife; and a small and sturdy tip knife.
It is imperative that the knives be well sharpened.
1) Preparing for slicing or trimming the ham:
The first thing we must do is to securely fix the ham board to guarantee our safety, which is essential for this task.
The position by which we start slicing will depend on the expected consumption rate of the ham. If the entire ham is to be consumed in a short space of time (less than a month), begin slicing at the thickest part or “maza” (the wider and juicier part). On the other hand, if it is going to be consumed slowly (over a month; the norm in most households), it is better to begin slicing the narrower side, or “babilla”, so that this area, with less infiltrated fat, does not end up becoming too dry and hard.
Use the short knife with the wide blade to trim the skin and outer shiny, yellowish-white fat covering the area to be cut until the meat underneath is visible.
For private consumption, it is recommended to “clean” only the part that we are going to start slicing, unlike in restaurants or event halls where it is normal to find the piece fully trimmed. Thus, the skin and fat should be removed as needed around the area to be sliced, keeping the rest of the meat naturally protected from dryness.
2) Slicing:
Once properly trimmed, we will be ready to cut the first slice. Two factors are important in this phase: the length and the thickness of the slice. Cut fine, almost transparent slices and 6 to 7 cm in length.
Here we will use the longer knife, “jamonero”, with a long, narrow and flexible blade.
The main difficulty in this stage are the leg’s bones, especially the hip. In order to work around them, we make an incisive cut around the bone using the tip knife, making it easier to cut the next slices and avoid one of the most common mistakes: cutting the meat with ridges or waves. We must strive to make clean and parallel slices.
Once you have finished cutting the area you started slicing, you should turn around the ham in order to continue carving the other side following the same criteria we applied on the other side, looking always for thing slices and slivers.
3) Ham cubes and bone:
At the point where the remaining meat is already very close to the bone and inaccessible, we remove it with the wider knife or a sturdy tip knife, chopping the resulting meat in cubes, to be used as garnish or in a wide range of culinary purposes.
If possible, chopping the bones and cooking them will render a most delicious broth for soups or stews.
