“An unparalleled charcuterie”: pata negra, Iberian black gold

It’s a little paradise for pigs. On this sunny November morning, Armando and Lola Montefrio’s forty pigs are frolicking happily, snouts on the ground, in search of the acorns they love so much. In this “dehesa”, a typical pasture in the south-west of Spain made up of wooded hills, almost a two-hour drive from Seville, near the Portuguese border, they lack neither space nor food: each animal has more than 1 ha generously planted with cork oaks and holm oaks. “Here our animals do what we call montanera,” explains Armando Montefrio. In French, “glandée”.

Behind this term hides a very old tradition. As winter approaches, it consists of letting free-range pigs eat acorns between two blades of fresh grass. A unique method that allows you to obtain the famous pata negra bellota, renowned for being the best ham on the planet.

“In less than six months, when conditions are optimal, each animal can gain up to 1.2 kg per day,” says Lola Montefrio. Final weight on the scale: more than a quintal! The cold cuts made from this highly marbled meat are “without equal”, recognizes Lionel Giraud, two-star chef in Narbonne (Aude), although a fervent defender of French products.

Because oak acorns – bellotas, in Spanish – generate a slightly pearly fat with a very particular flavor. In the Jabugo area, a town around which one of the country’s four protected designations of origin has developed, to which the farm of Armando and Lola Montefrio belongs as well as around thirty other farms, the fruits of the oak give each mouthful a powerful aroma of hazelnut which captivates the palate for a long time. A dish appreciated by gourmets around the world, particularly in France, the main export outlet where these exceptional products continue to gain market share.

“We are in the world of luxury, in the same way as with caviar”

The Franco-Spanish Florence Châtelet-Sanchez, who founded Maison Dehesa in 2011, today sells nearly 450 starred toques in 25 countries. “The quality of the meat matters a lot, but what makes a good ham is also the maturation,” recalls this former journalist, who has become one of the great specialists in Iberian charcuterie. Once sufficiently fattened, the pig is taken to the slaughterhouse, before salting and cellaring.

Armando and Lola Montefrio pamper their animals until their last breath. “We want them to end their lives as happy as they started it and, above all, not to suffer. This is why they are asleep before being killed,” explains Lola Montefrio. A way of respecting animal welfare, also a way of preserving these delicate flesh which is worth gold from the harmful effects of stress.

A few kilometers away, in Cortegana, the Lazo bodega, founded more than eighty years ago, matures thousands of hams in secaderos. In these rooms where the floor sticks because of the fat that beads up there, the pigs’ feet, suspended, mature like fine wines, plunged into darkness at a constant temperature. “A ham stays there for at least twenty-four months, and it will be optimal after thirty-six months. A shoulder is a little less,” explains Lucia Garcia Ortega, spokesperson for the jabugo appellation. A long time which partly justifies the prices.

In his Parisian delicatessen dedicated to Spanish produce, Oscar Noguera sells a whole range of cold meats, from 80 euros per kilo, “the bottom of the Parisian range”, specifies this trader from the 11th arrondissement. Because prices can soar well beyond that.

At Bellota-Bellota, a specialized brand created in 1995 by a passionate Frenchman, Philippe Poulachon, the 100-gram tray of pata negra costs 37.95 euros, or almost 380 euros per kilo! “We are in the world of luxury, in the same way as with caviar,” compares Florence Châtelet-Sanchez. It’s not always easy to imagine it, on this side of the Pyrenees, where we more readily associate ham with a common consumer product.

To reinforce the image of a high-end dish, jabugo producers began to get closer to Champagne winegrowers and organized the first joint operations, like this dinner in September in an old Parisian chapel. Around ten specialist journalists and influencers were invited for a prestigious dinner, with classical musicians, bubbles and, of course, pata negra tasting. Objective: to further penetrate the French market with an assumed premium positioning.

“The entire pork industry benefits from the brand image of these charcuterie products”

For her wedding in 2012, Rita, a Barcelona expatriate in Switzerland and married to a Frenchman, was seduced by the champagne-jamon association. For the reception, she had brought in, as expected, a cortador, a cutting specialist. Because, this is another particularity, to be perfectly appreciated, this ham must, on the one hand, be tasted at a fairly high ambient temperature (so that the fat oozes a little) and, on the other hand, cut according to the rules of the art. A quasi-science which, in the homeland of Cervantes, is even the subject of a national competition, and of which variations have emerged in France.

“Personally, I use five different knives,” explains reigning champion Antonio Gonzalez Cardeno, before beginning a demonstration. The result: perfectly regular rectangular slices that melt as soon as they sit on the tongue. “If it’s done poorly, you can lose a lot of material and, given the price, it’s still a shame,” says Oscar Noguera.

To avoid disappointments and contain prices, chef Maxime Bouttier has decided, at Ethanol, the bistro he is preparing to open near his Michelin-starred restaurant, Géosmine, in Paris (11th), to equip himself with an electric slicer. Less traditional than a knife with a ham holder, but much more practical. On the menu at his new address, the famous jamon, but also chorizo, lomo and palette, made from the same Iberian pigs.

In 2024, the Jabugo PDO will have certified less than 100,000 hams. A straw, compared to the country’s total production: more than 6 million per year. “The entire pork industry benefits from the brand image of these high-end charcuterie products, while Iberian pigs represent barely 11% of the herd,” notes Élisa Husson, economic studies engineer at the Ifip-Institut du porc. With 34.4 million heads, Spain even rose to fourth place in the world, behind China, the United States and Germany.

“In ten years, the total number of pigs has increased in the country by 33%. It’s quite exceptional,” emphasizes Élisa Husson. The only downside: the discovery, in November, in a natural park on the outskirts of Barcelona, ​​of corpses of wild boars infected with African swine fever. A disease which had not been recorded on the peninsula since 1994. If, today, pata negra is on the rise, this traditional charcuterie almost disappeared for reasons of profitability.

“Raising pigs in the dehesa requires grass and acorns,” recalls Armando Montefrio. However, depending on the rainfall, the quantities can vary greatly from one year to the next. And, with climate change, they tend to be less abundant. » To compensate, producers began to fatten their animals by giving them other foods. “At the same time, in the 1980s and 1990s, the Spanish discovered duroc-jersey (non-Iberian pigs), laments Florence Châtelet-Sanchez. Closer to our Breton pigs, they grow faster and can be slaughtered from the age of 1 and a half years, instead of 2 to 3 years.

One thing led to another, “certain agro-industrialists began to market poor quality hams, sold as pata negra, and to play with words to confuse the consumer,” adds Florence Châtelet-Sanchez, with supporting examples. In order to restore some order to the stalls, the country ended up adopting new regulations in 2014.

From now on, there is a system of four colors (black, red, green and white) allowing you to identify both the breed of the pig and its breeding conditions. Among the most qualitative, those with a black ring certify a 100% Iberian breed, free-range and fed on acorns. In contrast, the white strapping is attributed to the “cebo”, resulting from intensive agriculture, with a diet most often composed of cereals and legumes. A system that is still imperfect, but which has made it possible to limit abuse.