Presunto de Lamego

Description: Pork leg, salted and cured in smoked meat.

Region: North.

Special feature: Skinny, whole ham, with the nail and the fork.

History: Pork has been used for a long time. According to M. Gonçalves da Costa, «already in the early times of the kingdom of Portugal, the pig was used as a contribution, becoming famous the great "tax pig", delivered annually under the title "of service" by the 13 couples of Portelo de Cambres». Leite de Vasconcelos, referring to Duarte Nunes, notes that at the end of the sixteenth century the hams of Lamego were already famous, as they are today, which a modern poet did not disdain to sing. He refers to João Penha and the work Renascença, published in Porto in 1878.

Use: It is very popular as a starter, either alone or with melon. It is also enjoyed as a snack, accompanied by good bread and wine.

Know-how: The legs with nails and pezunho - without the croax bones, which are cut in half - are drained and placed in salting pans, where they stay for 20 days. They are then taken to the cold smokehouse for 2 to 3 weeks, after being removed from the salt. The hams are spread with paprika for their preservation.

Source: Produtos Tradicionais Portugueses, Lisboa, DGDR, 2001