Discovering Cartagena
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Discovering Cartagena
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More Articles By Phillip Bruce www.raxomnium.com Try Some Desert Island Cruising
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Look For The Black Foot There is little that the Cartagena gourmet likes better than a simple plate of sliced dried ham. This has been a staple of local menus for generations and it is often eaten with a few olives and hunks of dried bread. You can find “jamon serano” in every bar. Sometimes huge legs are hanging above the crowd of drinkers below. Carving one of these legs is a skilled business and the waiters use long, thin and flexible, knives to shave off slices from hams tightly clamped to wooden stands.
There are several different qualities of ham and at the top of the tree is the “pata negra” which means black foot. The very best, “belota”, comes from pigs that have been fed only on acorns and raised free-range in the mountains. Local people will tell you that, in fact, the best ham comes from the “Chatto Murciano,” which is the Murcia region’s own breed of pig. The race was created a long time ago by crossing original Murcian pigs with English pigs, such as the Berkshire, the Yorkshire and the Middle-White. They can reach over 200 pounds in eight or nine months. The original Murcia pig also survives in a pure form and enthusiasts are making sure that this doesn’t die out. end
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