Division 4.3.1 ‘Pražská šunka’ on the bone

The name ‘Pražská šunka’ has been used since the 1860s to denote one of the best-known food products originating in the Czech Republic, in particular Prague. Historical sources show a product called ‘Pražská šunka’ to be connected with the name of František Zvěřina, who first produced it. Josef Jeřábek, a well-known Prague smoked-meats producer, took over the production of ‘Pražská šunka’ from František Zvěřina. Other makers of this product included the Prague smoked-meats producers Dlouhý, Malý, Cibulka and others. The production of ‘Pražská šunka’ also began in other large towns and cities, following the example of Prague. In Brno, it was made by the smoked-meats producer Jebavý, in Hradec Králové by the smoked-meats producer Hutla, and in Pardubice by the smoked-meats producer Sochor, and it was being made by many other smoked-meats producers by the end of the 19th century. Figuratively speaking, the ‘Pražská šunka’ made by Zvěřina was the ancestor of all the others. Industrial-scale production of ‘Pražská šunka’ was started by Antonín Chmel, who established his firm at U Zvonařky in Prague in 1879. Besides ‘Pražská šunka’, his flagship product, he also produced a wide range of smoked-meat products which quickly gained a reputation in Prague and other towns, especially spa towns, and eventually in a number of European countries. However, his most commercially successful product was ‘Pražská šunka’, which soon even found its way onto markets overseas. After the Second World War, the firm was nationalised and a number of other production plants in Prague were gradually amalgamated with it. It was during this period that other variants of ‘Pražská šunka’ came into being in the form of semi-preserved or tinned ham made from pork-leg muscle meat. In 1977, the U Zvonařky plant and all of its employees and resources were absorbed into the newly built meat-industry combine Masokombinát Praha jih – Písnice. The advent of new curing technologies saw the introduction of brine-spraying, with or without subsequent massaging, in the production of ‘Pražská šunka’. During the post-1989 privatisation period, the meat-industry plant at Písnice closed down, but the production of ‘Pražská šunka’ on the bone continued at a number of other production facilities across the Czech Republic.

The basis for the production of ‘Pražská šunka’ originally lay in the selection of the raw materials and the method of curing. The raw materials used were pork legs from lightweight pigs, which is also why the current recipe specifies a maximum weight of 10 kg. Another distinguishing feature of the production process, which has been passed down from one generation to the next, is that the pork leg is given the ‘Prague cut’. Chilled pork legs were cured by rubbing the surface of the meat, in particular the skin, thoroughly with a nitrate curing mix containing a small amount of sugar. The bottom of the curing pot was lightly salted and the pork legs were placed skins down. Boiled and refrigerated nitrate brine, again containing a small amount of sugar, would be poured over the hams, which would then be weighted down. The hams were subsequently turned so that their underside was on top and their topside underneath. The hams were again weighted down. After sensory quality control, the hams would be soaked for several hours in lukewarm water and then left to dry. This was followed by the final process, namely the removal of the pelvic bone, the scraping of the surface of the skin and the binding of the shank so that its shape would not be damaged by cooking. The hams were always hung in a heated smokehouse. Smoking comprised two stages: firstly drying over a brightly burning fire, and secondly flavouring and colouring with the aid of moistened hardwood sawdust. The hams were usually smoked slowly for 8-12 hours. The hams would then be scalded in boiling water and cooked. They would then be cooled by soaking them in cold water.