Instructions
2009 has been a year in which our collective consideration of food reached its apogee – you could almost taste the excitement. And so, in his annual summary, one of Australia’s eminent commentators observed that ‘food is fashion’.
Kind of, but not exactly. Food has fashion.
To suggest that food is fashion is akin to imagining leggy models parading a flowing carpaccio of kingfish and a fascinator of pashmak fairy floss down the catwalk! Not exactly Lagerfeld, daaaarling.
2009 was a year in which the ‘I-can-cook-it-too’ axiom was writ large. After all, if a bunch of awkward home cooks can manage to create works of beauty in the bubbling crucible of Australia’s most-watched challenge, then it shouldn’t be too hard to pop out a mac and cheese for kids, should it?
In restaurants, the contemporary feeling has still been wholly Spanish, even if the chefs were not. Tapas gave way to Japatapas (the Japanese version), Itapas (the Italian version), and even Frappas (possibly a French style, but it sounds more like a drink!).
And no ingredient came to signify our new appreciation of elegant Spanish morsels more so than jamon, an Iberian ham whose rise and rise in popularity has been matched only by the commensurate rise in its price.
Jamon is beautiful – it’s Spain’s answer to the Italian prosciutto or the French bayonne. Salted and air-dried for up to 2 years, the flavour is delicately porcine, with a lingering sweetness. It’s not like the cooked hams we usually eat in Australia, it is instead layered and complex with a variety of unique characteristics.
But jamon, like any ingredient, has a range of qualities. The greatest and most-prized jamon is the ‘Bellota’, made from free-ranged pigs who consume acorns in the forests along the Portuguese border. Buttery and rich, it’s a gourmet’s delight.
The Iberico and Recebo are the middle ground, still excellent, but the fireworks may not go off.
Jamon Serrano is the Model T Ford of Spanish hams, produced in mass quantities in the factories of Barcelona. To be honest, a good local prosciutto is a better buy.
But that’s fashion, isn’t it? Stella McCartney designs for Target, and Australians buy imported production-line hams. 2009 was the year in which provenance mattered more than content. But hey, whatever makes you feel good, right?
Jamon with breadsticks and pears