Curious Cook in the New York Times: American dry-cured hams, country and European-style

In Wednesday's Curious Cook column I write about the new wave of fine American hams, cured with salt and eaten uncooked, like Spanish jamón iberico and serrano and Italian prosciutto.

Last month I attended the 5th World Congress of Dry-cured Hams, which was held in the Spanish town of Aracena, near Sevilla. I enjoyed some remarkable jamón there and learned a great deal from producers, scientists, and ham lovers. I'll be writing more about this later on.

In the meantime, if you like ham and haven't read David Arnold's brief and brilliant treatise on the subject, published a couple of years ago in Food Arts, get it here. It's packed with information and beautifully written.