BTW, the best Prosciutto in the world, again, Italian and Portuguese. Accept no substitutes. The same can probably be said for Ham too.

Ah, I beg to differ! Prosciutto from Dalmatinska Zagora (a mountainous part of Croatia, just behind the first Adriatic coastal mountain range) can be easily compared to that from, say, Parma (though it is a bit different; that from Istria is almost identical). The meat is either dry-salted of kept in brine (regional difference), pressed, briefly smoked in *cold* smoke from several kinds of wood and aromatic herbs, and, most importantly, dried in bora, a cold, dry wind. During clear, sunny winter days with strong bora one can see those hams hanging from the trees.

In Slavonia (flat region neighbouring Hungary) they make excellent smoked ham. It can either be briefly boiled or, much better, coated in bread dough and baked. We are also good with Salame Picante-like sausages (as are, say, Hungarians), but Slavonian 'kulen' is unique. The only ingredients are best pork (essentially ham), salt, paprika and garlic, and it is stuffed exclusively in pork appendix. A kilogram easily fetches $30-$40 at the site of manufacture. Mmmm, time to raid the fridge!