Jamón ibérico: Find Me Some

My latest discovery after a trip to Madrid has become jamón ibérico.    Here in Chicago I’ve enjoyed serrano ham but it’s maybe on the General Motors scale of quality an Oldsmobile, whereas jamón ibérico and its various subsets are the Cadillacs of hams (and various types of this ham are in the Eldorado category).  Unlike pink prosciutto jamón ibérico is blood red, more chewy, and has a complex taste and texture.  Many of the tapas bars (which in Spain look nothing like Ba-Ba-Ree-Ba and instead are bars that serve a few basic snacks and sometimes meals) have a leg of ham hanging on a hook out in the open where someone can ask for a few slices. 

I ordered some jamón ibérico at a place called museo del jamon for
58 euros a kilogram (that’s $35 a pound in real money).  It’s not what
you’d pay for your bog standard ham at the meat counter at Dominick’s
but then again it’s a special cured ham from the black iberian pig fed
a diet of acorns.   There are hams that are even more expensive, but my
trip to Spain was mostly on business and I was quite happy with my
purchase.

One of the owners of Pastoral, my favorite cheese and artisan food
shop in the East Lakeview neighborhood (and dare I say "best"?), said
they had some problems trying to get it in.  They sell some Spanish,
Basque, and Catalonian  specialties such as Serrano ham, as well as a
variety of cheeses such as Garrotxa, Idiazabal, Cabrales, and a
fantastic Rosemary Manchengo.    They apparently tried, but I was told
there were some USDA problems.   We can squash our livestock into
cramped conditions, pump them full of hormones, feed them their own
excrement, and send them through dangerous slaughterhouses, and that’s
perfectly legit.  But the U.S. government, for whatever reason, has
issues with the importation of this sort of meat, which based on my
understanding, does not come from factory farms.  According to a white
paper performed by Iowa State, European Union regulations allow for
"minimum light requirements", "permanent access to fresh water", and
"access to materials for rooting and playing", not to mention that the
EU bans the use of hormones.

For now hopefully some crafty souls will find a way to get jamón
ibérico into Chicago.  I’m betting and hoping Pastoral (2945 N.
Broadway) will be one of the first to sell it.