Iberian ham center. Boning with 100% yield

Little by little, boneless Iberian ham, or what is known as center ham, is gaining ground in the Iberian ham market. This format stands out for offering a 100% yield to the consumer, and certain facilities for slicing. This translates into something very simple: everything you pay for, you eat. At Ibericomio we are aware of the demand for this format, and that is why we offer an increasingly wide variety of boneless Iberian hams and shoulders.

Characteristics of the iberian ham or shoulder center

Boneless Iberian ham is a format for hams and shoulders, and is given regardless of its quality or labeling. This means that a boneless shoulder or ham can have a white, green, red or even black label, and its PDO mark as well, if it has one. The bone is removed after curing, not before, so in no case will whether it comes with or without bone affect the quality of the meat.

Ham or shoulder center polishing

Usually, a ham center not only comes without its bone, but also comes polished, that is, cleaned of all the skin and surface fat that we also tend to discard when we remove the slices of ham or shoulder. This will also mean that deboned and polished hams and shoulders will take somewhat less time to dry than hams in their whole leg format. However, it is very convenient when a large quantity of ham is to be served in a very short period of time, for example, at an event -weddings, communions, parties…- or simply for catering.

Ham center: for families and the hospitality industry

There are usually two formats of boneless ham on the market: pressed polished and unpressed polished.

Polished boneless Iberian ham

At the domestic level, it is common to acquire polished boneless Iberian ham. This format is much more common, and can be sliced either by hand or by a manual or semi-automatic slicer. From the boneless Iberian ham, a 100% yield is obtained, and it is possible to plan from the moment of purchase how many portions of a boneless Iberian ham or shoulder will be obtained. This is especially interesting for the catering sector, where it is essential to know the quantity and yield of each product in order to plan appropriately.

It is also an interesting format for families. In addition to the issue of yield, there is an important factor to consider with boneless Iberian ham: the space it occupies. Even mounted in a ham holder -there are ham holders for boneless ham-, it takes up practically half the space of its traditional equivalent. Naturally, you will get much more out of it if you have a slicer at home.

Iberian ham, boneless, polished and pressed

In the case of pressed polished boneless ham, after the bone is removed and polished, the meat receives an additional treatment. It is mechanically pressed to obtain a regular-shaped piece, cubic in appearance. It is a process that, again, does not affect the final product. The intention of this pressing is none other than to industrially slice these boneless ham cubes.

If you have ever bought sliced Iberian ham in a supermarket, you will have noticed that all the slices have exactly the same shape and size. This sliced ham format is the result of industrial slicing, which is obtained thanks to the polished and pressed boneless ham.

Price of boneless

When buying, it is important to consider that, although the price per kg of boneless hams and shoulders is double the price per kg of bone-in hams and shoulders, for practical purposes, the price is lower.

Between the bone and the hoof, the skin and the fat, a little more than half of the total weight of the leg of a ham or shoulder is discarded. Therefore, when acquiring our boneless Iberian ham or shoulder, we must consider the following:

• An Iberian ham weighing about 8kg yields a boneless and polished piece of ham weighing between 3 and 4kg.
• An Iberian shoulder of about 4kg yields a boneless and polished piece of shoulder of between 1.5 and 2kg.

From the boneless version, let us remember, we obtain a complete yield, while from the whole leg we will have to discard more than half of its total weight. For this reason, when buying a boneless ham or shoulder, what we should ask ourselves is what size the leg would have been originally and whether we would pay that price for a piece with bone and without polishing.

From Ibericomio we offer you a wide range of boneless ham centers so you can enjoy it at home or in your restaurant.