Riaza Los Gayumbos desde 1990

His smile is the smile of a contented man, but the wrinkles around his eyes and the grey hairs that contrast against his dark sideburns tell a story of hard work.

José Sol is the founder of Spanish Ham Master, a company that travels all over the world promoting the Spanish gastronomy by training chefs in the art of carving ham. He has trained some of the best chefs in the UK, and his services as a professional carver have been enjoyed by customers as select as the Manchester United Football Club and Her Majesty the Queen herself. “You have to be brave”, he says as he pours a glass of sparkling water, filled to the brim with ice cubes. “when you start a new life in a new country, where no one knows you… you have to be very brave.”

When José Sol moved with his family to Southampton in 2010, he was working as a sales manager for a Spanish company. “I can´t believe it´s been almost seven years!” he laughs before ordering a coke for me. The waitress that takes the order seems as pleased to see him as the maître. Once she leaves, I draw attention to this fact and he shifts in his chair: “I´m very shy” he announces, “but it is true that I always feel loved when I go to restaurants where I have trained the staff.”

The coke arrives and he fills my glass himself, “Things, however, have not always been this pretty.” His smile disappears for a second as if he was not there anymore, but in Southampton, seven years ago. When the company he worked for decided to put an end to their expansion project, anyone would have expected José Sol to come back to Spain, but he did not. “The project was supposed to last longer, but it ended up lasting only eight months.”

Because the company he had worked for was focused on the sale of Spanish ham — or Jamón, as he insists it should be called — he already knew the possibilities that this business entailed, so he and his family decided to stay.

“We put our fears aside and started our own business”, and that is how Spanish Ham Master was born. “At the beginning, it was only a stall in a street market”, he tells, “I sold Jamón and some customers would also hire me as a carver”.


Jose Sol is also the Brand Ambassador of Cinco Jotas in the UK

But José led a double life, as he himself describes it; at night he was a professional carver who attended fancy events held by fancy people, but every morning, he rose with the sun to put on his orange jumpsuit and rush to the Port of Southampton, where he worked loading and unloading cargo. “Even if those were hard times, they´re memories that I treasure because they taught me a very valuable lesson: sometimes you need to descend to Hell if you want to reach Heaven”.

By the time José´s business´s income was bigger than the one coming from working at the docks, his wife had been offered a job in London. They did not hesitate, they left Southampton and moved to the City. “There is a turning point in my career”, he moves to sit straight on his chair, obviously proud of what he is saying next: “and that is when I was hired to carve Jamón at the Royal Albert Hall, on the occasion of David Bisbal´s concert”. His smile turns into a smirk “I must have done my job very well, because not long after this, I was hired to carve Jamón for the Manchester United at Old Trafford” his eyes shine as he adds: “when something like this happens, you´re not José Sol anymore, you´re the Manchester United´s ham carver!” Nevertheless, one of José´s proudest moments took place at the Ascot Racecourse, where Spanish Ham Master was called to be part of the catering. “Oh, when the Queen is arriving and everyone stands to sing God Save the Queen… look! My hairs are standing on end at the memory!” He shows me his arm; his hairs are standing indeed.

José has trained the Novikov´s staff to carve Jamón, as he has done with other restaurants in London, but it seems that his master classes are well-known across the pond as well: he has had the opportunity to train no other but Gordon Ramsay´s team. About this experience, José confesses that the only people he has met that were faster learners than the Americans were Koreans. When asked who is the hardest to teach, he cannot contain his laugh as he exclaims: “The Spanish! We think we know everything already!” The jazz music is barely audible now, and the cold, luxurious atmosphere that reigned before has been substituted by something warmer, almost familiar. He tells the last time he felt really proud about his job was when someone referred to him as “The Jamón Messiah.” José Sol seems to struggle with the last question: “The best Jamón I´ve ever tried?”
Turns out the best was not the most expensive, or the one that had been curated the longest. The Jamón that José Sol has enjoyed the most is the one he had when, five years after leaving Southampton, he was asked to come back to the docks… because the Carnival Cruise Lines wanted him to train the cruises´ chefs.

“I remember looking back at the docks from the deck of one of the cruises, moments before starting the masterclass, and thinking: I made it”.