Cooked & pressed (jambon-style)

Cooked-and-pressed is the broad category of brined, slow-cooked, often-pressed cooked-meat products — most familiar through the French Jambon de Paris tradition and the Italian prosciutto cotto (cooked ham). The process distinguishes from American hot-smoked ham in two ways: brine cure rather than dry-cure; lower temperature gentle cooking that preserves moisture and produces dense fine-textured product; often a final press in molds for the characteristic block-shape that lunch ham takes. The technical sequence: wet brine cure with salt, sugar, and optional spices (sometimes including nitrites as preservatives); slow cook in water bath or steam at 65-75°C internal temperature; press in molds while cooling; slice.

Real Jambon de Paris is a refined product distinct from American supermarket lunch ham — properly cured with attention to brine composition, slowly cooked at controlled temperature, often with a fine layer of fat showing the original ham structure. The Italian prosciutto cotto operates in a similar tradition with regional spice variations (often gentle, sometimes herbal). Most American 'deli ham' is a cooked-pressed product though typically with industrial shortcuts and added water.