Saint-Oyen ember-roasted ham

Saint-Oyen is a small village in the Great St Bernard valley, between Étroubles and Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses. Its neighbour, Bosses, produces a cured ham. Saint-Oyen made its name with a cooked ham, finished over embers. It is a rustic product, but made with care.

Cured in Bosses, cooked in Saint-Oyen

You sometimes read that ember-roasted ham is a smoked ham, then matured for months. That is not so: it belongs to the family of cooked hams. It is the final spell over a wood fire that gives it its character.

Pork over embers: choosing the legs

It all starts with the choice of pork legs.

• Salt and flavourings. The legs are salted and seasoned with a mixture of spices and mountain herbs. This mixture gives the ham a flavour that is both complex and balanced.
• Cooking. The ham is then cooked.
• The embers. Finally, it is exposed to the heat of a hardwood fire. It keeps a golden surface and toasted, woody aromas.

What you taste: tender meat, wood-fire note

The meat is tender and moist. The flavour combines cooked meat, spices and a hint of wood smoke.

No PDO for now, unlike Bosses ham

Unlike Jambon de Bosses, ember-roasted ham does not have a European designation, neither PDO nor PGI. The producers of Saint-Oyen remain attached to the traditional method, which gives the product its identity in the face of imitations.

At a glance

• Meat: the pig’s thigh.
• Cooking: about 16 hours in a dry oven, then over embers of local wood.
• Finish: brushed with honey water, then basted with Petite Arvine during the ember roasting.
• At the table: sliced, often with green beans or grilled vegetables.

Source: food and wine guide of the Aosta Chamber of Commerce.