The Iberian shoulder is a very good option if you are looking for a smaller size than ham (jamón) but with the same delicious flavor of Iberian ham (jamón ibérico). If you want to buy a quality Iberian shoulder at a more affordable price than acorn-fed ham (Jamón de Bellota), your best option is to buy the Paleta de Campo Ibérica. In Enrique Tomás we catalog it with 4 premium stars and we differentiate it from its vitola and its bottle-green flange. To buy Iberian shoulder in an easy, safe and fast way, you can do it through our online store.
If the ham is the back leg of the pig, the shoulder is the front leg of the pig. For anatomical reasons, they are different: the shoulder is smaller and lighter than the ham, but the elaboration process is the same for both, according to the tradition and method used by our master ham makers.
As for the elaboration process, as we have said, a shoulder and a ham are elaborated in the same way. Each master ham maker (maestro jamonero) will follow his tradition and method for both the ham and the shoulder, but for reasons of size and weight, the production process will generally be shorter for the shoulder than for the ham, but it will always depend on the breed and feed of the pigs from which they come.
As for curing time, since the shoulder is smaller, it will take less time to cure than a ham, as long as they are the same type of ham, have followed the same feed and are of the same breed. If, for example, a Jamón de Campo Ibérico takes 24 months to cure, a shoulder ham takes about 18 months.
In flavor, texture and color, if a shoulder is more cured than a ham for reasons of volume and weight, its flavor will also be more intense in general. But we must always take into account the part where we cut the ham, because in both ham and shoulder, depending on where we cut it, the flavor will be more or less intense, more or less cured. The texture will also be somewhat juicier in the ham than in the shoulder and the color is always very similar, but the more cured the ham is, the more intense the red color will be.
The weight of a shoulder is approximately 4 to 5 kg. But as with ham, its yield is not 4-5 kg, but rather approximately 40% or less of clean ham, without fat and bones.
The Iberian country shoulder comes from the Iberian breed. The mother is 100% Iberian while the father can have a % of Iberian or come from another type of pig such as white.
In terms of diet and lifestyle, the Iberian free-range shoulder has a very unique characteristic, and that is that the Iberian free-range (de campo) pig is the only one that is raised combining farm and free-range (campo) Therefore, it follows a diet, on the one hand, of fruits and other wild herbs during the time it is free in the pastureland, but also from feed and cereals during its stay on the farm in the last phase of fattening. This particularity is what makes it so special. This combined feeding allows it to gain weight and its part of life in freedom makes it muscle and infiltrate more fat into the muscle. Thus, the resulting flavor can be assimilated more to the Iberian acorn-fed shoulder (Paleta de Bellota ibérica).
And not only that, in Enrique Tomás we are not satisfied with just any Paleta de Campo ibérica, but we select the best. We are very demanding with our product and we select each leg we sell following very strict quality standards, therefore, we can guarantee the quality of each leg we sell.
In short, we must not forget that the Paleta de campo ibérica is within the range of Iberian products, that it comes from the Iberian breed and that this is clearly reflected in its flavor, being one of the best options to buy in relation to quality-price.
