We feature in the blog of chef David de Jorge in this article:
Long live elegant charcuterie!
Between the pilgrims’ route and men working in the fields, in true Castilian countryside, the story of Casalba is born. In the foothills of the Sierra de la Demanda mountains, generations of a single family have earned their living rearing meat and producing hams just the way they learned to from their ancestors.
This legacy must be no small thing, because currently the people at Casalba make one of the best cooked Iberian hams that you can put in your mouth, I swear on my mother’s life, I mean the really, really good stuff. I love cooked ham, or “sweet ham” as my Auntie Mari Carmen used to call it, or ‘York ham’ as we have all called it since we were little kids, because it has been enhancing my picnics and breakfasts for as long as I can remember.
But don’t assume it is easy to find a good ham, since there is a lot of inferior products bearing the same name out there in the world of hams. The one from Casalba is made from the best fresh cuts of free-range Iberian breed pork and this is completely evident in the bite, the immense flavour, the marbling and the nobility of the product.
The company makes all manner of hams, shoulders, cured meats and sausages, beef hams (Cecina), Acorn-fed Iberian breed meats etc…. but if you have a total urge to eat something really super fine, go for the ‘jamón york’ (cooked ham), wild Iberian boar head, which is also really lip-smacking, or the Iberian pork “galantina”, a type of luxury York ham made with the best Iberian cuts (secreto, presa, chuck etc…)
Casalba really cheer up our mouths, more than they know, and so we wish them a long life and long live elegant charcuterie! God’ham’mit!!
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