Bigorre Black Pig's Ham - whole with bone ~ 9 kg

description

Bigorre Black Pig's Ham is considered to be the best French ham. Its tender and soft flesh, its rich and persistent aromas make the Bigorre Black Pig's Ham a great ham with an inimitable character.

The refining of Bigorre Black Pig's Ham is made in the same area as the breeding, at the foot of the Pyrenees. It is done in four steps:

• Salting: it is made by covering the ham with dry salt from the saline of the Adour basin, to enable its conservation. The duration of the salting is determined based on the weight of the ham in order to obtain a soft salting. Salt contributes to flavor development and intensity of the specific color of Bigorre Black Pig's Ham.
• Low temperature resting: the ham is suspended between 10 and 16 weeks to achieve maturation at low temperature. During this period, the salt diffuses evenly and ham loses moisture.
• Drying: after resting at low temperature, hams are brought in drying rooms at room temperature until they reach 10 months of age. During the drying, hams are coated on the lean to obtain uniform drying.
• Refining: Bigorre Black Pig's Ham spend at least 10 months of cycle in a dryer with windows, to permit the entry and circulation of the outside air and to refine the hams in natural conditions of temperature and humidity. They thus benefit from the foehn effect* quite specific to the Piedmont of central Pyrenees.

*The foehn wind is a southerly dry and hot wind in the region 1 day on 3 or 4, alternating with the colder and wet wind from the Atlantic. It is during this phase of ripening that the ham acquires all its sensory characteristics and develops its typicality.