Jamón gets most of the attention, and we have covered it in jamón serrano vs ibérico. But a Spanish tabla de embutidos (a board of cured meats) usually has several other things on it, and they are worth knowing by name. This guide covers the ones you are most likely to see on a menu outside Spain.
A quick word on vocabulary. Embutido means a product stuffed into a casing, like a sausage. Jamón is a whole leg, so strictly it is not an embutido, though menus often lump everything together. Many of the items below also come in ibérico versions, made from ibérico pigs.
Chorizo and salchichón: red and white
Chorizo is chopped pork seasoned with garlic and pimentón, the Spanish smoked or unsmoked paprika that gives it its red colour. Cured chorizo is sliced and eaten cold; fresh chorizo is cooked. We compared it with a Thai sausage in chorizo and sai ua.
Salchichón is the other half of the pair. It is also cured pork, but seasoned mainly with black pepper rather than pimentón, so it is paler and tastes of pepper and pork. Catalonia's fuet is a thin, dry sausage in the same family.
Lomo and cecina: whole muscles
Lomo embuchado is a whole pork loin rubbed with salt, garlic and pimentón, stuffed into a casing and cured. Because it is one lean muscle rather than chopped meat, it slices into neat ovals and is leaner than chorizo.
Cecina usually means cured beef, though the word is also used for other cured meats. Beef cecina is salted, often smoked and air-dried, and the best known comes from León, where Cecina de León has protected geographical status. It is dark red, sliced very thin and often finished with a little olive oil.
Sobrasada: the one you spread
Sobrasada comes from Mallorca and is made with pork, pimentón and salt. It cures but stays soft, so you spread it on bread rather than slice it. It is also used in cooking, and on the island it is sometimes eaten with honey. Sobrasada de Mallorca is a protected name.
The ones you cook
Two sausages often appear near the cured meats on a menu but usually arrive hot. Morcilla is blood sausage. Some is sold already cooked, but in bars it usually comes sliced and fried or grilled; the version from Burgos is made with rice. Chistorra is a thin fresh sausage from Navarra and the Basque Country, fried and often served on bread or with eggs.
How to order and eat them
- Eat cured meats at room temperature. Straight from the fridge, the fat is waxy and the flavour is muted.
- Thinner is better for lomo, cecina and salchichón.
- A mixed tabla is the easiest way to compare them. Ask which items are ibérico, since prices differ a lot.
- Bread, olives and a glass of wine or dry sherry are the usual company. Our sherry guide has pairing ideas.
Where to find Spanish cured meats outside Spain
These venues in our directory mention cured meats in their own records:
- MoVida Bangkok: Frank Camorra's Ekkamai tapas bar lists cecina alongside Cantabrian anchovies.
- Enrique Tomás, Lima (Santiago de Surco): a wine and tapas bar specialised in ham and cured meats.
- Essensaciones Gastro Boutique, Glarus, Switzerland: a shop and tasting space selling Iberian DOP hams and cold cuts.
- La Pepica, Warsaw: its record says all its products, including cheese, embutido and wine, are Spanish D.O.P.
- La Cava, Phuket: chef-owner David Aldea makes his own charcuterie.
