Señorio de Montanera Lomito (Presa) Iberico 100g

TAST­ING NOTES FROM THE CURATOR

Lomi­to comes from the fat-rich pre­sa (shoul­der area) of the Iber­ian pig. It is is mar­i­nat­ed with salt, gar­lic, and papri­ka local­ly grown in the Extremadu­ra com­mune of La Vera before being stuffed into gut cas­ing. Unlike jamón ibéri­co, its cur­ing and dry­ing time lasts only a total of 90 days after sea­son­ing, and the resul­tant meat has a red­dish, almost bur­gundy or gar­net tone to the meat. With­in this peri­od, it los­es most, but not all, of its fat lay­er. What remains is a juicy, almost creamy cut of meat with tast­ing notes of acorn and hazel­nut, and an intense, sweet-earthy aroma. 

PREPA­RA­TION OR PAIRINGS

The lomi­to should be served at room tem­per­a­ture. With its exquis­ite­ly refined fla­vor, it requires no com­pan­ion as a tapas — no but­ter, cheese, or even a driz­zle of oil. A bit of bread is, of course, the exception.

This Span­ish cured meat calls for a Fino sher­ry, a Tem­pranil­lo, or even a Man­zanil­la to com­ple­ment its rich fla­vor. A sweet Banyuls has the aro­ma and inten­si­ty to stand along­side it. And because this cut comes from the famed pata negra, we’d be remiss if we didn’t sug­gest hav­ing it with bub­bly — per­haps our Duval-Leroy Brut Reserve Cham­pagne.

A DEL­I­CA­CY OF FAT AND MUSCLE

We can­not stress enough what a spe­cial treat the lomi­to is. The pre­sa is locat­ed in the shoul­der and neck area, above the ten­der­loin and next to the pale­ta — almost exclu­sive­ly found in the plump Iber­ian hogs of the dehe­sas. It gets its ten­der­ness and intense acorn-and-hazel­nut fla­vor from the per­me­ation of fat in the mus­cle lay­er of the meat. A cut of pre­sa tends to be so red in col­or, it is mis­tak­en for beef. It can be found fresh only from Novem­ber to Feb­ru­ary or ear­ly March. The rest of the year, of course, you can find it as a won­der­ful­ly spiced lomito.

Storage Instructions

Vac­u­um-sealed packs of hand-carved cured meats can last up to five months in the refrig­er­a­tor (nev­er the freez­er). Once the pack is opened, they’re best enjoyed with­in the day.