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''