Because of Ian's instructions, tonight's food for the merchant caravan was quite good. Besides the still fresh oily flatbreads and meat soup, the steward, in good spirits, also handed out a small piece of smoked cured meat to everyone.
This smoked cured meat was made with large chunks of deer meat, first smeared with a layer of fine sea salt, then covered with cheaper rock salt and left for half a month. It was then placed in a cool and dry cave, and fermented with a type of wild fungus for two months.
During the fermentation, a type of incense exclusive to the natives was needed to be infused with the meat, allowing the fragrance to permeate every part of the meat with the fermenting bacteria, making it extremely tender and flavorfully delicious.
Because it was a traditional food used for the natives' sacrificial rites, only shamans and chieftains could eat it, hence it was called 'Shaman Smoked Meat,' also known as 'Southern Pine Smoked Meat.'
