Prague ham
Prague ham is a type of brine-cured, stewed, and mildly beechwood-smoked boneless ham originally from Prague in Bohemia. When cooked on the bone, it is called šunka od kosti, considered a delicacy. It was first marketed in the 1860s by Antonín Chmel, a pork butcher from Prague's Zvonařka on the Nuselské schody.
It was a popular export during the 1920s and 1930s, to the point that other cultures started copying the recipe and making it domestically. Pražská šunka/Prague ham is registered as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed in the European Union and the UK and can only be produced according to a specified procedure.
As street food
Prague ham is traditionally served in restaurants and from street vendors with a side of boiled potatoes and often accompanied by Czech beer.Names in other languages
The following translations are registered for the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed:- Bulgarian: Пражка шунка
- Czech and Slovakian: Pražská šunka
- Danish: Pragskinke
- Dutch: Praagse Ham
- Estonian: Praha sink
- Finnish: Prahalainen kinkku
- German: Prager Schinken
- Greek: Χοιρομέρι Πράγας
- Hungarian: Prágai sonka
- Italian: Prosciutto di Praga
- Latvian: Prāgas šķiņķis
- Maltese: Perżut ta' Praga
- Norwegian: Pragerskinke
- Polish: Szynka Praska
- Portuguese: Fiambre de Praga
- Romanian: Șuncă de Praga
- Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: Praška šunka
- Serbian: Прашка шунка
- Spanish: Jamón de Praga
- Swedish: ''Pragskinka''