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Are you sarging up in here, bhowie?
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Jamón ibérico de belotta is also known as jamón de pata negra.
Iberico is the breed. They have black feet. Acorn fed is de bellotta.
I'm no expert, but I do not believe this is exactly correct - pata negra refers to the "black feet" of the iberico breed. Bellota means acorn, and not all pata negra hams have been fed on bellota.
www.latienda.com
These guys have a good selection of jamon at various prices.
I too prefer the taste of Spanish ham over Italian - I dunno, I find the flavor to be a little more concentrated, but YMMV. I have a notoriously bad palate as a result of chronic sinus issues. Annoying, since I enjoy cooking so much. Maybe that's why my food sucks.
I've ordered a boneless Serrano from them and it was solid, if unspectacular, but for like $250-350, a bone-in Serrano is a hard deal to pass up, especially for something like a Christmas party. Should also be a good way to cut your teeth on the carving. Invest in a sturdy stand - the cheap one they sell on their site (the $~50 one) is the one I got, and though it's serviceable, I wish often for a little bit more stability and mass. The hardwood ones look awesome, but as I am a peasant, the $750 was a bit more than I was willing to put into it.
If I were to do it again, I'd step up to a non-bellota Iberico. They're at more of a $700 price point, and I'd imagine pretty farking good.
Bellota is crazy, like $1300.
Service with Tienda is quite good, I got my stuff quickly and nicely packed. Because I bought a boneless one, it was cold-packed; not sure if they'd do the same with a bone-in. I never got entirely to the root of why boneless hams need refrigeration and bone-in do not, but I presume it has something to do with the fact that boning might open up air pockets inside the ham that would not exist in a bone-in ham.
Knife is important, too. I bought a mid-price one from Tienda and I don't really like it, though I'm sure in the right hands it could be sharpened appropriately. You, OTOH, probably have a roster of knives that would be perfect for the purpose. I'm told you should have a slightly "flexible" knife; I've seen guys all dressed up wielding these long whippy wu-shu looking things and they get amazing results, but in the end I haven't had the greatest results myself.
Have fun... I have been looking at getting another Serrano just recently myself. I find it's great to have something like that laying around - always great as an app and can enhance many weeknight meals.