Sugared Jerky

Sugared Jerky is a sweet and savory dried meat, originating on the Blessed Isle. Its exact origins are unknown, but it seems closely related to the sweet variety of sausage favoured in Isle cuisine. The jerky is prepared by drying a mixture of meat (usually pork or beef), Salt, cane sugar, and spices in a casing, which is then smoked to dry it out and flavour it further. Much sweeter than most meat dishes, and considered off-putting by many foreigners (in much the same way as an Arjuf Spun Wrap), it is nevertheless popular with travelers of all classes on the Blessed Isle (though the sugared jerky eaten by peasants is derived from undesirable ‘pork’ trimmings, while that of Dynasts comes from the best cuts of beef).

There are slight variations in recipe across the Isle, with the sugared jerky of Pangu Prefecture held to be the best example of traditional flavour. The sugared jerky of Arjuf Dominion is known to incorporate dried Southern chili peppers, adding an intense blast of heat to the trio of sweet, savory, and salty flavours.

Sugared Jerky, or something akin to it, was a popular snack amongst the normally sweets-averse forces of the Shogunate, having a martial reputation carrying through to the present day. Among the Imperial Legions, sugared jerky appears as a regular part of Legion rations, though to spread supply the jerky is sliced into small cubes. This practice has spread to the Street Food of the Blessed Isle, where one can find street carts hawking small leaf-wrapped packets of cubed jerky, referred to colloquially as 'Meat Candy'. Finely-crafted versions also appear amongst the dishes of Dynastic Dim Sum.

The image of a few sticks of sugared jerky in hand or protruding from a belt pouch is common in artistic imagery, to invoke the idea of setting out on a long journey.