50 per cent of the value of Spanish cured ham depends on how it gets sliced, according to cortador de jamónes, Florencio Sanchidrián.
The rockstar of Spanish ham charges around US$4,000 to cut a leg, which takes him roughly an hour and a half. He uses a special coiling technique to rest the slice on the tip of the blade, slicing up and down slowly, "so that it can soak up all the other flavours that are already on the knife.”
“I’ve now got a slice that will taste nothing like a normal cut and will in fact remind me that God exists,” Sanchidrián of hostelry students.
And judging by the Spaniard’s clientele, it can’t all be baloney; Barack Obama, Robert De Niro and even the King of Spain himself have all relished his melt-in-the-mouth meat.
Sanchidrián’s foray into food began front of house as a waiter in Barcelona where he honed his slicing skills when the ham cutter fell ill. A devout nationalist who refers to himself as a 'World Ham Ambassador', he believes that Spanish Iberian ham is an international treasure, second only perhaps to France’s truffles and caviar.
Speaking to , Sanchidrián details just what it takes to become a professional cortador de jamónes, or jamón slicer: sound product knowledge – including the birthplace of the pig and the temperature it has been stored at – is key to the job.
Sporting his signature bandana, Sanchidrián has sliced at the Oscars and at private Hollywood parties, and travels the world to educate the masses about Iberia’s superior ham. His lucrative earnings have even allowed him to open his own restaurant in Madrid.
Unlike Italy’s prosciutto or Spain’s Serrano ham, Iberian pigs are allowed to roam freely, enabling fat to spread around their bodies. They take regular siestas and feed on grass and acorns, the latter giving the meat its signature sweet, slightly nutty flavour.
The cortador de jamones charges up to $4,000 to slice his prized Iberian ham.
“Remember that this animal tastes so good because it walked hundreds of kilometers, took long siestas in the fresh air and got to watch some of Spain’s best sunsets,” he told a group of executives from an American software company.
And there you have it: Spanish sunsets and siestas, and some nifty wristwork – the secrets to a $4,000 slice of ham.
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