Ham, no, not the sandwich stuff, but Jamón

Last night, I was lucky enough to be taken to Brindisa in Borough market, to a Jamon carving course. I should add the caveat that I am a humungous fan of Jamon, Pata Negra, Joselito - all Spanish cured hams in short.

What a fun night it was, starting with the history of hams, we had a plateful of 4 different hams in ascending order of age/type and tasted each one in turn, with an explanation of what we were eating and why each one tasted differently. The flavour is influenced by 3 things, Breed, feed and age (could prob add environment, at Joselito would say so). So we started with the 'entry level' ham, leading up to the most complex, purest breed, longest aged, the Joselito, the grand daddy of hams. In short, fed on acrorns - best. Iberico breed - best. Then the longer the cure the better (up to 4 years).

Now for those of you who know and love Parma ham or prosciutto, this is in a completely separate world (although when you pay up to nearly £20 for 100 grams, it should be). The flavours are so complex: sweet and nutty. The textures are wonderful. Because the meat is of such a high quality, it can be hand carved slightly thicker than the Italian equivalent, which is always sold paper thin. We were served Sherry throughout (so only have 1 drink before you go), although I normally eat Jamon with a glass or 2 of Rioja, a Cune or Campo Vieja crianza 2005 is perfect. Interestingly we were assured that the drink to really have it with is Dom Perignon! I'm not sure I can afford to develop an addiction for Jamon and Dom Perignon, so will stick to the Rioja for now.

The best part was a chance at carving. It is very frustrating when spending that much money at other outlets, like Whole Foods, only to get home to find it had been carved too thick. So to get a chance to have a go and understand what you are doing and why, was just fantastic. Everyone had a good go at it, I'm sure it just goes to show that if you really love something, you'll give it proper attention and respect it.

My adorable girlfriend took me and she would claim that she was a better carver than me, well I think that is up for debate. Either way, we'd be confident to carve our own leg. Now we just need to start saving the £400 or so we'll need for the Extremadura one which was just too good for words.

Thank you my darling, thank you for a genius Christmas present, it was great to get close to and learn about something i've been loving ever more each year.

Thanks also to Zac Fingal-Rock Innes, the master carver at Brindisa. He has clearly got the passion and will help to ensure that this fantastic product is available in the UK. I look forward to learning more, tasting more (and presumably making it myself, or is that sacrilege?)

The only negative, I think, is that I've finally resolved my 'death row' dilemna of what would your last meal be. A glass of rioja with the finest Jamon, perfectly sliced cannont be beaten. I could do it every day and the joy doesn't diminish.