Some months ago a very good friend presented me with a leg of Spanish Ham.

There was no opportunity to eat it there and then and so it went down into the basement and was hung up to wait for its day to come.

That time has come about this coming weekend and in preparation I set off at lunchtime today to acquire the kit I would need to dispose of it properly.

In truth this meant that all I needed was a stand to lock it in place whilst a sharp knife could be used to take off the wafer thin slices.

We are lucky in Liverpool having a place that gave me the option of three different stands ranging from the fully professional which had the appropriate amount of shiny metal to the more prosaic basic which was two bits of wood that needed to be screwed together with some rudimentary clamps to hold the leg in place.

Tempting though the alternative might have been I went for the basic model and it is now sat proud in the basement leg fixed in place ready for the weekend. There is a strict instruction set down to the family that the door is kept locked at all times so errant cats aren’t lured into temptation.

Needless to say there has been a sampling and it all tastes good with the fat melting properly against the tongue and the basement is now filled with the acorn fresh smell of well hung ham.

Hopefully the knife will stay sharp and I will be able drag back up some of the ham cutting skills I sort of learnt last year.