Directions

Satan tempted Jesus by bread, power, and vanity; Shakyamuni, the Buddha of our age, had to face Mara’s greed, boredom, and desire. I’m tempted by this tasty Trinity.

They passed the test. I prefer to fall. And enjoy the degradation of this descent into sensual debauchery of palate. Especially, when it is done during the Lent…

The entire journey from obtaining the meat to sending to my perpetually dissatisfied belly took three month and three weeks. Through this process, the lucky to be selected for such destination three pork necks had to sacrifice 41% of their weight.

Recipe:

2.55% sea salt; 0.25% cure#2; 0.5% Aleppo pepper powder; 0.2% onion powder; 0.03% Ghost pepper; 0.4% turbinado sugar, some Bulleit Bourbon. With these spices and cures, the meat went in vacuum to refrigerator for over three weeks. The length is explained by my mere sloth. Yet, prolongation of this phase does add in color and mellowness of the final product. At the end, I’ve not noticed any clear signs of the presence of the Ghost pepper among each hypostasis of this Trinity. After washing and resting overnight, the meat was dusted with combination of onion powder, Aleppo pepper powder, and just a bit of Ghost pepper and went to the dry-curing.

At the end, two members of the Trinity went through the ritual sacrifice of the slicer to be consumed over just one weekend. The third one waits in vacuum for another gloomy day to transform my internal cosmos into much brighter state.