Tinsel and ham: Halloween is over in Cuenca so it’s time to talk Christmas recipes

Every year, before Halloween merchandising has even been exhausted, the shops in Cuenca wheel out the Christmas trees. Plastic snowflakes appear beside the avocados, and the first faint strains of “Feliz Navidad” drift through the supermarket aisles. It’s the signal that the long, some might say interminable, festive season has begun, and with it, my mind turns, not like Chaucer’s pilgrims to pilgrimages in April, but to something much more important and soul-saving: proper ham.

By “proper” I mean ham with a bone in it, the sort you can carve with a sharp knife, not peel from a plastic packet. The kind that sits on a plate and doesn’t need to be sweetened or disguised with relishes. Just the sort of farmhouse ham that tastes of salt, smoke, and pork. Perfect for a cold platter or for those late meals on the Feast of Stephen, otherwise known as December 26th, when the turkey’s gone dry and everyone wants something simple and real.

Cuenca doesn’t exactly overflow with that sort of ham, but the makings are all here if you know where to look. Supermaxi and Coral offer their share of imported seasonal jamones from Spain and Colombia and vacuum-sealed slices that shine under fluorescent light, but the real treasure lies elsewhere. Down in the meat markets, the butchers will sell you a pierna de cerdo con hueso, a leg of pork, pink and fresh, ready to be transformed into something worth remembering.

All it takes is a big pot, a handful of spices, and a bit of time. You simmer the pork gently in salted water with onion, bay leaf, peppercorns, and a scattering of cloves. The cloves are essential, because their scent drifts through the kitchen and makes the whole place feel like Christmas even if it’s really only November. When the meat is tender and the juices no longer pink, you let it cool overnight, then slice it cold. The next day, you have real ham: firm, fragrant, and just salty enough. It pairs beautifully with cold turkey, potato salad, cold stuffing, or a few leftover slices of roasted pineapple if you must.

This, to my mind, is holiday food at its best, nothing fancy but comforting. It doesn’t demand fancy dissection with an electric knife or a meat cleaver. It just sits on a cuttin board, waiting for you to carve another slice while someone hums a carol in the next room and the dogs eye the table, their slobber betraying their true feelings about the ham.

So as the tinsel goes up across Cuenca and the first chestnuts roast on an open fire over the supermarket speakers, I’m already thinking ahead. Somewhere between the plastic reindeer and the stacks of panettone, I’ll find that leg of pork. I’ll stud it with cloves, simmer it on the stove, and be ready when the Feast of Stephen arrives with its promise of leftovers worth eating. If I can wait that long.

If You Want to Try It Yourself
Buy a fresh pork leg (pierna de cerdo con hueso), about a kilo if you’re cooking for a small household. Put it in a pot with a litre of water, two spoonfuls of salt, half an onion, a bay leaf, three or four peppercorns, and half a dozen cloves. Let it barely simmer for about an hour and a half. If you’re using a pressure cooker, give it half an hour, then let the pressure release naturally.

Leave it to cool in its own broth. Peel off the skin, keep a thin layer of fat, and chill it overnight. The next day, carve thin slices and eat it cold with mustard, pickles, or just sandwiched between two slices of bread and butter. It keeps for a week and tastes even better on the second day.

Save the ham broth and use it for the base of a soup or a gravy to pour over mashed potatoes; or to make dough for savory rolls.