Jamón ibérico, aside from a few painters, a discoverer or two, some okay football teams, and a couple of architects, is perhaps Spain’s greatest contribution to civilization. These long cured, deeply flavored, profoundly inspired examples of charcuterie sit squarely next to fois gras, pesto, and tuna sashimi as examples of what we can do with simple ingredients to make them stunning.

Ordered as a tapa, the jamón arrives thinly sliced on a plate, sometimes with a light drizzle of olive oil, sometimes with an accompaniment of manchego, and sometimes with nothing at all. The color is a deep, almost purple, red with stripes of fat running throughout. The taste is complex, slightly salty, barely meaty, with a hint of vegetable. The fat is buttery and sweet. Forks are okay, but almost everybody uses their fingers.

The flavor is unique, and is due in no small part to the way the pigs are raised. Jamón begins as little piggies are weaned off their mothers and let loose in forests to eat acorns and frolic amongst the woodland creatures (think Winnie the Pooh, only little Piglet is much tastier). The result is a bunch of well-fed pigs with an appreciation for the open air. Later (when they are no longer being used) the legs are salted and then cured for anywhere between six months to two years plus. This unique combination of pig sort, free range munching, and curative good Spanish air, creates a delicacy that stands up to Italy’s prosciutto and smacks it around a bit just for fun before completely dismissing the entire boot shaped peninsula as wannabe.

And, according to the FDA, they’re bad for us. Like real cheese, the FDA has declared that we are all likely to die a horrible, bacteria-laden death should we even contemplate eating such a thing. The thousand or so years of human trials in Spain have proven only that Spanish people don’t die from eating jamón. The Spanish may have managed to land successfully on our shores five hundred years ago, but that was just a couple of ships, some cannon, and European civilization. A pig leg is, as they say, a whole different animal.

There are rumors that jamón ibérico will be available in the States sometime next year. Even at $1100 a leg, I expect it’ll sell like rich, marbled, meaty hotcakes (with manchego).

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