Cured pork fat

[Kent Wang]

In a few excellent salumi that I've had, I've noticed that the fat takes on a strange flavor and mouthfeel. It is most evident in Fermin jamon iberico, less so in Salumeria Biellese gunciale, and just a little bit in some dry salamis that I can't remember precisely. The best way to experience it is to get some jamon iberico and take a big bite of just the fat, none of the meat. With the Biellese gunciale you can do the same, or render out the fat in a pan first and have a sip of just the fat.

The taste is of course rich and complex, nutty, a little sweet, but the remarkable thing is that the fat seems to coat your entire mouth and lingers for several minutes. It is perhaps astringent as it makes the mouth feel dry. Certainly in large quantities it can be unpleasant. There was a Fermin sausage (perhaps it was the longaniza) that I had once that you could only eat a few slices at a time before the cured fat taste overwhelmed your mouth and you have to take a break.

All of these products have been cured for a long time. Fermin says that their jamon iberico is cured for much longer than jamon serrano or prosciutto. In addition to the amount of time is also how dry the end product is. Even Tanara secola blue label prosciutto which is cured for 18 months does not have this character, while jamon iberico does, perhaps because jamon tends to be so much drier than prosciutto.

Have you also experienced this? Is there a name for the taste and mouthfeel? What is the science behind it?