Jamon or Prosciutto - what's best?

It is an age old question, one that bisects opinion and catalyzes vociferous debate in the Latin part of Europe.  Where does the best ham come from? 

Today I want to talk about Italian prosciutto.  The word prosciutto comes originally, and not unsurprisingly, from the Latin "pro exsuctus" (which sounds a little bit like a spell from a Harry Potter novel).  Pro exsuctus means to suck out, or remove the moisture.  It doesn't take a scientific genius to work out whats going on here.  The leg of ham (or boar) is dry cured in salt to remove all the moisture ( a process that usually takes 2 months or so).

It seems the Italians, indeed the Romans were rather thrifty.  They made dried pasta as a means of storing wheat and they made prosciutto as a means of storing ham, in an age where refrigeration was far from inception.

Prosciutto proliferated out of the Northeast of Italy into Slovenia and the former Yugoslavian countries.  I have eaten pršut in Croatia and can attest to its very high quality indeed (arguably better than some Spanish and Italian hams).

In my opinion I think both jamon (iberico) and prosciutto have their places, and are more compatible with certain ingredients than others.  I would also be happy to use cook prosciutto (like the wrapped asparagus I made recently) but I would not put pata negra in the oven (it's a waste).

Last night I simply served some prosciutto crudo with potato cakes and it was epic.  Simple dinner, but high-rolling taste.

Potato and Cabbage cakes with prosciutto crudo