It’s not every day that one can say they brought home the bacon. Or, even, the ham.
But my main man XFE’s birthday is today (Tuesday). And, well, he loves his cured meats.
Which is fairly surprising considering the Great Northern Italy Food Poisoning Incident (Involving Salami), Spring 2011. I personally still have some hard feelings toward cured meats.
However, when the man who has everything (because he just goes out and buys it for himself) indicates an interest in an 18 pound piece of meat and a stand for carving it, you jump on it.
There was actually quite a bit of research involved. For example, the best Spanish ham to get would have been an Iberico. However, these Iberico, which come from some pretty damn special pigs that only eat acorns, is a bit pricey.
We did not end up with an Iberico. We ended up with a Serrano. Which I brought home last week. Not by metro, obviously. By car service.
Then we watched a video on how the hell to put it in the holder, carve it and store it. And then we did. We ate it (well, at least a few slices off of it). We’re counting on Porktober to make more of a dent.
Maybe we can smuggle an Iberico back when we go to Spain in November. Yep, we’re going to Northern Spain, which is very exciting.
Wow. You’re high-class–car service and Serrano? I’m on the Hillshire Farm deli meat-buying train. ; ) Well, and pork tenderloin. I’ll be enjoying Porktober in a more pedestrian way. 😉
The car service is pretty nice. It’s called Uber and anyone can find them in major cities like DC, New York, San Francisco, etc. You download the app, put in your credit card info and they find you via GPS and they take the charge automatically from your credit card. No scrambling around to find cash, no angst over tipping. You literally just get out of the car. It’s awesome, and a great alternative to the smelly cabs here in DC, which don’t take credit cards and charge even when they’re standing still in traffic. Plus, it’s a good way to get an 18 pd ham home.
Wait … the ham just sits out on the counter while you slice bits off? No “refrigerate after opening?”
No refrigeration necessary for up to three months. It’s fully cured. You just slice off a sliver whenever you want some. You see them all over the place in Italy and Spain, even in homes. It’s pretty crazy. And by crazy, I mean delicious.
Does the cat know how to use the slicing knife or will she just chomp a bite now and then? And what is this glorious-sounding Porktober? Will you be wearing a bacon suit to work?
She does not, thankfully for us, know how to use a knife. Yet. It’s this weird phenomenon….you put any new item on the floor and she will sniff it. Hams, magazines, computers. Whatever. If you put it on the floor and look at it, she will sniff. (I’ll send you the Porktober invite. My bad)