$549 for a half roasted Duck? 

That is a fantastic price on probably the best meat on the planet.

At a ham bar in Barcelona, there was stuff for 249 euros for a 100g. 

ive seen the maple leaf farms duck at aldis before, maybe they start carrying the that ham next to the speck. at that price they should slice it up for you

Foghorn said:

rcone said:

At a ham bar in Barcelona, there was stuff for 249 euros for a 100g. 

That was probably aged 30 years or so. 

When I was in Spain in 2016 I seem to remember that the 2 year aged (minimum standard) Jamon Iberico was going for 30+ Euros per pound (they priced it per kilo but I had to translate it to pounds for my brain to put it in context) if you bought a whole leg.  But that was near the source and didn't include the stand.  Based on that, the Costco price seems pretty appropriate to me.  But the longer it is aged the more it costs.  The 30 year stuff was obscenely expensive.  And in a restaurant it is all expensive.  

The ham in the photo isn't straight jamon iberico either, it is jamon iberico de bellota - which adds the additional requirements of the pig's diet, required weight, and the number of pigs that can be raised.  For iberico de bellota - they have to spend the final 3 months of their lives grazing on acorns to get them to a required weight (160 kg, around 350 lbs).  During that final grazing period, there can be only 2 pigs per hectare (so only 2 pigs for nearly 2.5 acres) to allow them to eat enough acorns.

Since so much of their weight is added by eating acorns, their fat is closer to the chemical composition of olive oil than to the fat on our commodity pigs here.  It tends to liquify at room temperature, which is why when the hams are hanging in store or bars, they will have cups hanging from the bottom, so ham fat doesn't drip onto customers.

Acn said:

Foghorn said:

rcone said:

At a ham bar in Barcelona, there was stuff for 249 euros for a 100g. 

That was probably aged 30 years or so. 

When I was in Spain in 2016 I seem to remember that the 2 year aged (minimum standard) Jamon Iberico was going for 30+ Euros per pound (they priced it per kilo but I had to translate it to pounds for my brain to put it in context) if you bought a whole leg.  But that was near the source and didn't include the stand.  Based on that, the Costco price seems pretty appropriate to me.  But the longer it is aged the more it costs.  The 30 year stuff was obscenely expensive.  And in a restaurant it is all expensive.  

The ham in the photo isn't straight jamon iberico either, it is jamon iberico de bellota - which adds the additional requirements of the pig's diet, required weight, and the number of pigs that can be raised.  For iberico de bellota - they have to spend the final 3 months of their lives grazing on acorns to get them to a required weight (160 kg, around 350 lbs).  During that final grazing period, there can be only 2 pigs per hectare (so only 2 pigs for nearly 2.5 acres) to allow them to eat enough acorns.

Since so much of their weight is added by eating acorns, their fat is closer to the chemical composition of olive oil than to the fat on our commodity pigs here.  It tends to liquify at room temperature, which is why when the hams are hanging in store or bars, they will have cups hanging from the bottom, so ham fat doesn't drip onto customers.

After a night at the ham bar if you didn't get at least a bit of ham fat dripped on you folks just weren't partying hard enough.

I saw some insanely expensive ham in Barcelona this year.  I’d probably snatch that thing up.  

buzd504 said:

theyolksonyou said:

I saw some insanely expensive ham in Barcelona this year.  I’d probably snatch that thing up.  

Bought some to bring home before I realized you weren’t supposed to bring it home.  Made a hell of a breakfast before the flight.  

The other couple we were with did the same, but took the chance to bring home…successfully.  😡

You can order one.

https://www.costco.com/covap jamon-iberico-bellota-ham-leg-with-stand-and-knife,-15.4-lbs. .product.100519895.html

Hmmmm…

There’s all kinds of cool stuff in the related products part of that link.  

Foghorn said:

rcone said:

At a ham bar in Barcelona, there was stuff for 249 euros for a 100g. 

That was probably aged 30 years or so. 

When I was in Spain in 2016 I seem to remember that the 2 year aged (minimum standard) Jamon Iberico was going for 30+ Euros per pound (they priced it per kilo but I had to translate it to pounds for my brain to put it in context) if you bought a whole leg.  But that was near the source and didn't include the stand.  Based on that, the Costco price seems pretty appropriate to me.  But the longer it is aged the more it costs.  The 30 year stuff was obscenely expensive.  And in a restaurant it is all expensive.  

30 years, pig mummies or what 🤪

Those are available here in SoCal also but with both of my daughters away at school what would the wife and I  do with it? It would be a sin to freeze it.