Inspired by the revered jamón ibérico, Alfonso García Cobaleda is trying to do the same thing with beef

In the chilled chambers of an industrial estate on the edge of a small Extremaduran town and the rolling pastures at the foot of the Sierra de Gata, a lawyer-turned-cattle-farmer is engaged on a quest for gastronomic alchemy.

Alfonso García Cobaleda’s raw material is, to begin with at least, less than mouth-watering. From a hook hangs 66kg of cow leg, its deep red and off-white surface moist to the touch thanks to an oozingly high fat content.

But given salt, water, patience and a couple of years, it will become something rich, and – to many traditional Spanish gourmands – undeniably strange.

Inspired by the much-revered ham made from the Iberian black pigs that wander the harsh reaches of western Spain devouring acorns, García Cobaleda is trying to do the same thing with cows.

By crossing native Spanish and common international breeds with wagyu cattle and rearing them on his 500-hectare farm in northern Extremadura, he is striving to produce a cured beef similarly suffused with the flavours of the landscape.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest García Cobaleda and some of his curing cow legs. Photograph: Sam Jones/The Guardian

Like jamón ibérico, thinly sliced pata de wagyu ibérico (leg of Iberian wagyu) almost melts in the mouth, but its flavour is milder and it lacks the ham’s warm, fatty and throat-coating tang.

Many people are sceptical before they try it, says the 46-year-old farmer, but those who do are pleasantly surprised.



“When they try it, they say, ‘This is ham.’ I’m not saying that; I just call it leg. People say it tastes like ham but it also tastes of beef.

“The cure is just like the one for Iberian ham. But it’s beef and we’re not trying to compete with pork. It tastes the way it does because of the pasture and the way their flavours find their way into the fat.”

He thinks its smoother flavour may appeal to northern Europeans who find jamón ibérico too strong. Ready sliced portions are already on sale for €120-140 per kg, while the first whole legs have already been reserved and will sell for €70 (£62) per kg. A 7.5kg leg of high-end jamón ibérico meanwhile, costs about €600.

García Cobaleda, who gave up law 17 years ago to help manage the family farm, is careful to stress that although his product should not be confused with Spain’s most famous ham, the two have much in common.

“Maybe some ibérico producers thought you could only call ham ibérico, but anything you produce in the dehesa (pasture) is ibérico – whether it’s a pig, a sheep, a cow or a wagyu cow,” he says. His cows, like the Iberian black pigs, also include fat-rich acorns in their diet.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cutting slices of pata de wagyu ibérico. Photograph: Sam Jones/The Guardian

“I call it leg of Iberian wagyu because it’s a leg, it’s wagyu and it’s ibérico because it’s reared in the dehesa. You could call it ham or haunch, but the main thing is for people to try it and see what they make of it and what they want to call it.”

The family came up with the idea of seeking out other breeds to enrich their herd of charolais and limousin cows six years ago. Keen to diversify, they bought wagyu studs and invested in Spanish breeds in danger of dying out because of a lack of profitability.

Today the farm, dotted with newly planted trees and overlooking a huge reservoir, is a living, ruminating moos-who of breeds and cross-breeds: tough tudancas, pure wagyus, pretty cachenas with their lyre-shaped horns, and a pair of Highland cows who wisely shelter from the sun beneath the shade of the holm oaks.

Orders for pata de wagyu ibérico are coming in from as far away as Austria, Russia and China, as well as restaurants in Madrid and the Basque country.

But for the moment at least, the gourmet cow-leg business remains small and very much a work in progress as García Cobaleda and his curing guru, Marta Recio, work to perfect their formulas.

“In a way I don’t want that to change; it’s good to stay excited and to keep on learning,” he says. “I’m a farmer – I want to learn from the butcher and the restaurateur and the cook and the consumer.”





