SPANISH PORK TASTING w INTERPORC

I'm a fan of foods from all over the world. I love Japanese food, French influenced food finds its way in to lots of my cooking, I adore the flavours of North Africa and I definitely couldn't go without Italian food... but one of my absolute favourites is Spanish food. I was lucky enough to live in Seville for a while where they have, in my opinion, some of the best tapas in Spain. So when Interporc, Spain's biggest white pork exporter, invited me to a night of tasting and teaching at La Iberica in Marylebone I couldn't refuse.

The evening started with drinks. We were offered red or white sangria - I chose white, which is made with cava instead of red wine and is a revelation - fruity and strong but not heavy from red wine, I'll be drinking a lot of this this Summer. In fact, we sought some out in Portugal last week and enjoyed it in the blazing sunshine on the beach in between body boarding dips in the sea - bliss!!
 

  

Drinks accompanied a talk from the head of Interporc about their brand. They supply all the white pork for the La Iberica restaurants in London, and well as many more restaurants and shops. None of their products use any conservatives or preservatives and Interporc look after the whole chain of their pork products - from representing the pigs farmers, to looking after producers, sales people and exporters. The company is based in Galicia and all of their products achieve the highest ranking for quality standards. It was interesting to learn that Spain is fourth largest white pork producer in world, and the 2nd largest in Europe, behind Germany. Interporc produce 3million tons of pork meat per year...!!

 

We were then led through a guide on how to cut a leg of jamon, and each had a go - some with more success than others. The key is knowing the 4 areas that you cut the meat from, always cutting away from yourself, towards the trotter and aiming for thin, long slices. When we ordered a leg a couple of Christmases ago none of these things happened, in fact we butchered it so badly I had to end up using the meat in cooking rather than eating on its own as the slices were so thick and uneven!

 

 
Of course the true test is in the taste.... We started with samples of the freshly cut Jamon Serrano de Capa Blanca, on the left below. It was so tasty, and not overly greasy or salty as some can be. Next was the Cured Fuet from Vic (Barcelona) - a thin, cured sausage of pork meat with a firm texture that was not unlike some of the best salamis I've tried. Then two types of chorizo which were rich and earthy.

 

We were also treated to various tapas from La Iberica's regular menu. We tried:

 

Delicious pan con tomate which has a real garlic kick -

 

 

Cold and refreshing gazpacho of red berries, beetroot and anchovy - a lovely alternative to the normal tomato gazpacho you expect -

 

 
Confit of cod (brandada) with olives and white grapes, which was salty yet juicy and zingy -

 
Fried chorizo lollipops with pear alioli sauce (heaven) -

 
Iberica's Serrano ham croquettes - ridiculously good, definitely my favourite tapas we tried -

 
Creamy black rice with squid, prawns and alioli sauce, another winner -

 

 

It was fascinating chatting to the pork farmers, the guys at Interporc, who are so passionate about what they do, and executive chef, Nacho Manzano, who has some fabulous, genuine Spanish produce to work with at his lovely restaurants. Do check out La Iberica if you're on the hunt for top quality tapas. It does get busy in there but they've got a few branches in London and Manchester, details of which can be found here - including an outdoor terrace restaurant in Canary Wharf where I can imagine myself sitting, supping white sangria and eating more of that wonderful tapas this summer.