Should you want to eat jamon Iberico de bellota—and of course you do, you always do—the place to be this weekend is the Oak Cliff cheese shop Cheese & Chutney, where there are chutneys, wines, and a monthly cheese club—and where this Saturday a haunch of cured Iberian black hog ham will make a sumptuous appearance.
Owners Chitra and Jeff Foster will shave the fine slices, which will be served with conservas (Spanish tinned seafood), tapas, and Spanish and Portuguese wines.
Jamon de bellota is sweet and nutty, like no other. The black Iberian hog roams under oaks, eating the acorns. The result: wafer-thin slices of a cured ham that’s rich, but melts on your tongue.
In Spain, I’ve seen those who shave the jamon suit up, pulling on a chain-mail glove that looks like something out of Ivanhoe. It’s lovely to have the fine slices arrive at your table as tapas. It’s another to see the whole thing go down, as you might at a bar in Seville, say. I can make no promises about the donning of the Medieval armor on Saturday. But I know you will not regret the flavor—or the show.
When: Saturday, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: Cheese & Chutney
