Hardtack and Salt Pork Stew
Jan Chu
This stew is nothing like the food you’re accustomed to, but may give you the strength to do what is needed.
Ingredients
2-3 pieces hardtack, from the middle of the barrel where
the weevils have suffocated and no longer crawl
½ lb. salt pork (try to find a piece without too many
worms, or too much rot)
Black pepper, if you can get it
Method
If you can get any fresh water from above decks, soak the
salt pork overnight. Do not use seawater, although you
may be tempted: there are too many slithering things in
the deep.
Try to sleep. Ignore the moans and cries of your
comrades, who are bitterly regretting their decision to
travel to the Gold Mountain country. Ignore the stench of
the man who stopped moving three days ago. His wife at
home will take care of the rituals.
In the morning, soak the hardtack until it can be broken
apart with chopsticks. Find someone who has brought a
cooking pot or a wok to hold his few belongings, and beg
him to borrow it this once. You will be useful to each
other. He has a chopper, carefully concealed in his
waistband.
Cut slivers of tinder and kindling from the bulkhead. The
ship herself deserves to suffer for everything her
masters have done to you. Make a small fire, directing
any smoke to the tiny porthole, to avoid detection. Heat
the wok until a tear falling from your eye, unbidden,
bounces on the surface.
Chop the salt pork into small pieces and let it sizzle in
the wok. Render the fat just as you would the jelly-like
lard of the corpulent agent who brought you onto this
infernal craft.
Mix the pieces of soaked hardtack into the fat and the
pork, and let them stew. Do not hesitate to cut the
throats of those who would value black pepper above
lives. Add the pepper (if available) gradually, to taste.
Do not think about pure, fragrant, white rice. That life
is dead to you now.
Serve the stew to a small group of loyal men, those who
still have a little strength, those who will not cower or
flinch when they must act, those who have the fortitude
to use the chopper again, and again, and again, those who
will not run when they see blood. The moment will be
soon.
Serves 4 (up to 12 in desperate times).
About the author:
Jan Chu is a digital native, who first published via Telnet in the 1990s. Based in Hong Kong, Jan writes science fiction and political allegory.
