Paleta Ibérica: Ham on a Stick

Here's something you don't see everyday (but we do). A entire pig's leg of ham.
It reminds me of the meat that Fred Flintstone used to eat all the time.
It's on my kitchen counter.



These can be found in all the grocery stores, meat shops, many cafes/bars and lots of kitchens. It's very delicious ham; carved directly from the bone (note the hoof on the left of the picture). It's been air-dried for a couple of years before getting to the market. Sort of like good scotch... it's been properly aged. The big hunk missing is the part where the meat's been sliced off... not where someone's been gnawing at it.

I'll be chopping this up and using the bits for soups and with vegetables; where one might typically use bacon in a recipe.

That's one of the things I like about Europe, we're closer to the origins of the food we eat and often see it in a practically natural state; not heavily disguised with corporate packaging.