Ham isn't a word you often hear linked to Judaism. But Ana Gómez-Bravo, a professor of Spanish and Jewish Studies at the University of Washington, includes Jewish ham (made from goose or duck) in The Converso Cookbook, a multimedia online project that offers the public an opportunity to read about the history and try their hand at the unique dishes of the Sephardic community of 14th and 15th century Spain.

Prime among them is the Jewish ham made with cured goose breast. "In Sefarad, it was common to cure a whole goose or to also just cure the breasts, turning the rest of the meat into a minced mixture that was stuffed into the neck skin and then cured, forming a type of dried sausage. When the cured breasts are sliced, it is easy to realize the resemblance of duck or goose ham to jamón or tocino (salt pork)," Gómez-Bravo writes.

"Spanish Inquisition records note the consumption of roast goose on the Jewish Sabbath," she writes in the section of the project that gives the history of each of the dishes she presents. "The tradition of making goose or duck ham, as it is called, continues strongly in areas of Spain like the Catalan region of the Empordà."

There are also recipes for a spicy eggplant dish called Almodrote, and a one-pot meal called Adafina, which was historically covered in embers to slow-cook overnight. The histories attached give a brief and tantalizing glimpse into the development of the dishes, and definitely make you wish the online project were more extensive and included more recipes.

Thankfully, there is promise for more to come. 

According to the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies of the University of Washington where the Converso Cookbook is hosted, Gómez-Bravo is "working on a book-length project on the relation between food and ethnic identity, and in particular the attention paid by the Inquisition to food practices of Jews and Muslims leading to the exercise of racial profiling."