Ham

Ham was a common food prepared and consumed in most regions of the Realms.

Description
Ham was usually made using a pig's or boar's leg (also called a hock ) that was cured in various sauces, spices, and herbs, similarly to pig's head, an Amnian delicacy.

Usage

 * Amphail's citizens often visited the Stag-Horned Flagon to purchase platters of biscuits. The tavern allowed them to bring their own fish fillets and slices of ham to make a meal out of the local favorite breads.
 * Baeranth were Tantran meat pies that were stuffed with smoked beef, goat, and ham.
 * Halflings were known for preparing ham honeyed with sweet pineapple gravy.
 * Morningfeast at the Yawning Portal often included ham served by itself or together with bisquits and eggs. A typical breakfast at the Old Skull Inn in Shadowdale consisted of waffles, ham, fruit, and tea.
 * Iulutiun humans of the Great Glacier considered ham to be an exotic food and a precious commodity.
 * Potage was a soup, commonly served as a part of a full four-course dinner in taverns across the Realms. This soup was usually cooked using the previous day's leftover meats, such as ham, and various vegetables.
 * Smoked ham was a common food served in abundance during Glarth, a festival also known as Fullbelly.
 * Roast gammon pie was a Cormyrian delicacy that was made out of stuffed deboned ham wrapped in a pastry jacket.
 * In Tethyr, pies were cold stuffed pastries often filled with leftover cubed ham, minced meats, or fish, mixed with parsnips, potatoes, spinach, mint, hot peppers, and drowned in "summer sauce". The posh Stag Triumphant inn in Mosstone offered salted and smoked ham as nightcaps.
 * Glazed ham was eaten in Amn at places like the Battlescarred Bard inn.
 * The Driftwood Tavern in Neverwinter served a special Anniversary Ham during the city's annual Protector's Jubilees in the late 1400s DR. Driftwood chefs hand-picked each piece, trimmed it, and slow-cooked it in a secret sauce, giving a unique, once-a-year taste.
 * Phontyr's Unicorn in Elturel was known for its boar hock soup.
 * Alzael's Cleaver in Immersea was famous for smoked hams aged and cured in cherry brandy.

History
Ham was eaten at least as far back as ancient Netheril.

The monks of the Great Mother's House in Berdusk often served ham, pheasant, and roast beef to their guests in the mid–13 century DR.

In 1358 DR, Maela's boarding house in Immersea had a ham-stocked larder for guest service.

In 1372 DR, the Ironhand Mines in Luruar were under control of an orc raider tribe. The orcs' main food storage was filled with dry cured meats, including ham.

By 1374 DR, the farmers of the Grand Duchy of Shantal were known to raise pigs and export ham, among other local foods and drinks.

In 1480 DR, the Cult of the Dragon's Skyreach Castle was heavily stocked with hundreds of crates of food, meat, ham, fish.

Circa 1491 DR, Jalessa Ornra, a butcher from Red Larch, sold butchered and smoked meats, including ham, from her shop. The sign that hung above the entrance had a painted piece of ham being cut by a cleaver. Her shop had an adjacent smokehouse and a cold cellar.

Trivia

 * Catoblepas milk was as thick as syrup, had a color reminiscent of ripe cranberry, and smelled of baked ham.
 * Saurials of the Lost Vale exuded the smell of ham when they felt nervousness or worry.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Marco Volo: Journey &bull; Hoard of the Dragon Queen &bull; Princes of the Apocalypse
 * Novels
 * Azure Bonds &bull; The Wyvern's Spur &bull; Crusade &bull; Tymora's Luck &bull; Corsair
 * Song of the Saurials &bull; Dangerous Games &bull; The Black Bouquet
 * Comic Books
 * Converging Lines
 * Video Games
 * Sword Coast Legends &bull; Baldur's Gate III &bull;
 * Sword Coast Legends &bull; Baldur's Gate III &bull;