How Many Hams

[Carrot Top]

Soba made me think of this with a thread he started in the Southern Food Culture Forum.

Aside from fresh ham...let's see how many sorts of hams we can list...cured, salted, smoked, seasoned, whatevered...from around the world (or the universe, if that's where you hail from).

Please, also, if the ham is unusual, tell us a bit about it!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Tasso

Serrano

Prosciutto (pork this time, not duck!)

Parma

Westphalian

CB Radios

[HKDave]

Yunnan ham, from China...

Good info on ham types (w/photos) here: http://www.foodsubs.com/MeatcureHams.html

[john b]

...the talking pig in Toy Story

[Jason Perlow]

Jamon Iberico -- the much coveted cousin to Serrano that isn't yet legal to import into the States.

Jambon Bayonne -- French Equivalent to Prosciutto

Speck, also sometimes called Prosciutto Affumicato -- a smoked Prosciutto made in Austria, Germany and also Italy.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Jamon Iberico  -- the much coveted cousin to Serrano that isn't yet legal to import into the States.

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I know that there is a story here .. care to elaborate, Jason?

[Jason Perlow]

I know that there is a story here .. care to elaborate, Jason?

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We've had a few threads on it.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=38170

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST&f=38&t=26353

Here is an article on it from Wine Spectator

http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Main/Fea...97,1782,00.html

Edited October 2, 2004 by Jason Perlow (log)

[msphoebe]

At Costco this morning, I spied a a sliced ham imported from Italy -- Rosmarino? Ham flavored with rosemary.

It looked VERY good, but as I had no idea what I 'd use it for...I left it behind.

[ghostrider]

At Costco this morning, I spied a a sliced ham imported from Italy -- Rosmarino?  Ham flavored with rosemary. 

It looked VERY good, but as I had no idea what I 'd use it for...I left it behind.

←

Sandwiches. With some Italian fontina cheese. Fabulous.

[Peter B Wolf]

Favoring:

"Schwarzwaelder",

next "Tiroler"

"Oldenburger Katenschinken"

"Prager Schinken"

"San Daniele Prosciutto"

"Culatello"

[msphoebe]

ghostrider - sounds like a perfect pairing! Favorite bread for this samwich? Italian? I assume no condiment is needed?

Sounds like a great brown-bag idea to take to the office next week.

[chezcherie]

At Costco this morning, I spied a a sliced ham imported from Italy -- Rosmarino? Ham flavored with rosemary.

pick it up next time...i love this stuff.

makes great panini.

for a quicky app, roast asparagus spears for about 10 minutes (bigger-than-a-pencil-asparagus), wrap a slice of provolone around, then a slice of the gorgeous rosmarino. back in the oven just until melty. dip in a mustardy sauce if desired (not necessary, but yummy.)

big rosemary flavor comes through. trader joe's carries this as well.

[ludja]

It would seem to be implied in the start to this thread...

but Southern Country Ham, including that from Smithfield, VA

(maybe I missed somthing!)

[msphoebe]

Mmmmm...Cherie...thanks for the idea. My bad luck to have passed on the ham. Will go get some today. Bad thing about Costco, you never know if they will have it again once this quantity is sold!

[andiesenji]

Has anyone mentioned Mainz hams.

I tasted one smuggled in from Germany by the daughter of a friend. The daughter works for an airline that shall remain nameless.

It is brined then soaked in some kind of liquor then smoked.

It is delicious. It is quite different from any other ham I have ever tasted.

Three years ago I tried doing something similar with a boar hind leg, cool-smoking it for 5 weeks after first brining it then soaking in a mixture of hard cider, white wine and Kirsch.

It turned out quite good but not as good as the Mainz.

My housekeeper has had one of her sisters, who lives in Prague, send some ham from there. It also was very good, much better than (real) Black Forest or similar hams but with the same very dark color. She says, as near as I can figure out the equivalent spelling, it is called Szyncka.

[elswinger]

Thanks for the link HKDave. I had always wanted to know the difference between a City Ham and a Country Ham.

[ludja]

Thanks for the link HKDave.  I had always wanted to know the difference between a City Ham and a Country Ham.

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Ditto on the thanks HKDave for the very good link! I'm going to bookmark this as it really give a good overview of hams and other smoked pork products.

I grew up with "kasslerripchen" a delicious smoked pork chop. You can get it in German/Austrian delis or meat markets.

[ronnie_suburban]

It would seem to be implied in the start to this thread...

but Southern Country Ham, including that from Smithfield, VA

(maybe I missed somthing!)

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I think Smithfield deserves a dedicated mention of its own.

=R=

[budrichard]

I know that there is a story here .. care to elaborate, Jason?

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Go here: http://www.tienda.com

I am first in line for the Iberico when they are ready!

From my experience from ordering a bespoke Spanish shotgun(they sent the wrong model 14 months later), the Iberico will be ready 'When pigs fly'!

In terms of hams, do not forget the country hams from http://www.scotthams.com

They use nothing but salt, not nitrites or nitrates. The only reason you can't eat thier hams like prociutto is that they are not tested for lysteria, although many apparently do. Their bacon is also good and similarly only salt is used. A slab lasts us all year and we use it for cooking as well as just plain eating.

For a 'city' ham, http://www.nueske.com makes an applewood smoked ham that is pretty hard to beat. Bacon is also good.-Dick

Edited October 5, 2004 by budrichard (log)

[Margo]

Can I tell a story? My husband and I were in the Dordogne region (to see the prehistoric caves, way cool!) and staying at a B&B with a voluble host. The host was talking about how he slaughtered hogs every fall for ham (the time of the moon was important, a superstition, he said but one he followed). This was very common practice in the region--everyone cured their own hams. Where were they kept to cure? my husband asked. In the attic, was the answer--that was why so may farmhouses had the little dormers in the top floor that we had wondered about.

So for the rest of the trip as we drove, we had a keen sense that behind every roof lurked a fabulous ham. What a country.

[simdelish]

Jamon Iberico  -- the much coveted cousin to Serrano that isn't yet legal to import into the States.

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Ossabaw hogs (decendents of Iberico swine) are here... good ham to follow?

Great Pork Could Happen Here

[msphoebe]

Wow. I just had to post back here to say I finally purchased the Rosmarino ham today...and am enjoying a sandwich of rosmarino, provolone and garden-fresh tomato (the last one!) on ciabatta.

Not knowing what spread would best accompany this sandwich (in retrospect, perhaps a very light drizzle of a good EVOO?) I lightly spread one side with Dijon mustard, the other with a tiny bit of mayo. I can't eat a dry sandwich.

This is the best sandwich I've had in a long, long time. Will definitely buy again!

[albiston]

A few extra Italian hams, apart Parma and San Daniele menitoned before:

Prosciutto di Sauris

Prosciutto di Montagna (mountain prosciutto, made throughout central Italy)

Prosciutto di Modena

Prosciutto di Norcia

Prosciutto di Pietraroja

there's also a few non-pork traditional prosciutti, the most noteable of which is the Goose Prosciutto made in NE Italy.

[Carrot Top]

A few extra Italian hams, apart Parma and San Daniele menitoned before:

Prosciutto di Sauris

Prosciutto di Montagna (mountain prosciutto, made throughout central Italy)

Prosciutto di Modena

Prosciutto di Norcia

Prosciutto di Pietraroja

there's also a few non-pork traditional prosciutti, the most noteable of which is the Goose Prosciutto made in NE Italy.

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I am curious as to whether there are discernable taste or texture differences between these.

Also curious as to whether one stands head and shoulders (though really we should be looking at the other end of the animal in a ham but I am trying to be delicate ) above the others?

Edited October 18, 2004 by Carrot Top (log)

[albiston]

I am curious as to whether there are discernable taste or texture differences between these.

Also curious as to whether one stands head and shoulders (though really we should be looking at the other end of the animal in a ham but I am trying to be delicate ) above the others?

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How they stand buttock to buttock, you mean ?

All the prosciutti I mentioned have a slightly different preparation before salting, which gives them a different shape and influences the dry air aging process, and a different taste according to seasoning procedure and pig race. The three characteristics that vary the most are: moistness , how salty they are and in a certain sense how much "porkness" their taste has. Prosciutto di Modena is in a certain sense the lesser relative of Parma, at least when it comes to fame. It tastes quite similar to Parma to me.

In Italy people love San Daniele, because it has a mellow, slightly sweet taste, similar to Parma but richer. Parma doesn't have a good reputation between Italian foodies since it is seen as a mass product going for an acceptable middle of the range quality, instead of seeking the excellence it could reach.

Norcia (a town in Umbria famous for its cured meats), prosciutto di Montagna and prosciutto Toscano (which I forgot above), are more salty, and in a certain sense taste more of pork. The saltiness goes great with the local salt-less bread. Some producers in Toscana are also using the Cinta Senese race to produce a more exclusive (and expensive) version, Does it taste better? Yes.

Sauris prosciutto is a mildly smoked prosciutto, unique in its kind in Italy, and is produced in small amounts.

Prosciutto di Pietraroja is an almost unknown product from Campania, and probably the only typical prosciutto of Southern Italy. It undergoes a peculiar aging process which involves flattening the hams in a special wood press and a light smoking step.

There's another two I didn't add to the list (carpegna and veneto prosciutto) which I never tasted.

It's hard to say which one is better, but maybe I'd say San Daniele for the mellow tasting ones and Prosciutto Toscano made with Cinta Senese pigs for the saltier kind. Sauris and Pietraroja are a different thing altogether and I can't really compare them to the rest.

That said, if you asked me to chose between any of these and the Spanish Jabugo I'd betray my motherland in a fraction of a second. Jabugo is just soooo delicious.