312: Baptism of Blood

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please check your spam folders if you haven’t received this update via email by now.

You are seeing the abridged version of this post. SUBSCRIBE NOW at the DISCIPLE tier or higher to receive the full uncensored content through the Newsletter/Mailing List. As members, if you haven’t received the newsletter via email, (applicable to many Subscribestar members) please send me a message on those platforms to activate your account and be added to the mailing list. Hiccears users may also purchase each Newsletter instead of a Subscription at USD$12 or 12 H-coin per Carte du Jour Update.

For those new to my works subscribe at the introductory ACOLYTE tier for limited access and if you like what you see, you may upgrade at any time. For those who’d like to support me at the higher tier and receive extra perks, join at the APOSTLE, TETRARCH or DIARCH tiers and I will contact you as long as you have a way for me to reach you.

If you have any questions, CONTACT ME for more details.

For members who purchase via Hiccears, due to the “pay-per-view” nature of that platform and that I’m unable to enable a subscription based approach there, all updates there are now sold piece-meal as a set for 12 H-Coins each (which is approximately USD12 per Newsletter/Update. The link can be found here: https://www.hiccears.com/contents/9f6dc8e1-1173-4d15-93f7-007b6582aadf

Dear Patrons,

Hallelujah, it’s a miracle! All hail the Unholy See, the Hidden Vatican and the Antipope with his blasphemous blessings! I’ve been feeling generous lately having bitten by the storytelling muse that I’ve decided to revive the short story section after a five year hiatus to highlight some other talented authors’ works. I felt I really needed a long break to take fresh eyes to truly appreciate and do justice to my reviews. There are some new classics added to the Repository and I’ll encourage you to head on there, after you’ve read my own stories, of course!

On other news, I’ve also added a “BUY IT NOW” crypto button for each update for those who have missed the newsletters. It works like an a-la-carte similar to the comics and archived collections. I will begin to retroactively add this function to past posts so be patient with me.

In the meantime, here’s a new story and one that ties in with the previous update 311: As Above So Below. Bon appétit!

The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred. 

I. A CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE MAGGIORDOMO & THE CULINARIAN-ELECT

His Eminence is quite an amateur historian, and would like this lovely hairless doe prepared using a recipe that harkens to the good old days of centuries past. That is your specialty, yes? Recipes of the past?

You could say that.

He would like a dish that transports him back to the early dawn of the discovery of the New World. To mark the arrival of the nuovo Papa. There was one recipe of that time, something written in Bartolomeo Scappi’s Opera dell’arte del cucinare. And I am sure you are familiar with that tome, aren’t you not?

I have read that book.

Then …you will be familiar with the conclave of the Cappella Paolina in 1549, where Scappi’s Ribs in Mosto Cotto was served. That was quite a momentous occasion, both for the Vaticani, and the Occulti Vaticani. You will be pleased to know that we possess Scappi’s original handwritten manuscript and also a tome that you will find, very interesting. You could say, it is the recipe book of all recipe books, one that reveals plenty of humanity’s hidden history. After your rite of passage, you will be allowed to have a peek. And who knows perhaps even make your own entry in that illustrious tome. For that to happen, we would like for you to recreate that dish, but … with a twist! Throw in your usual flair and creativity using our a new special ingredient. Can you manage? 

But Maggiordomo, I have not worked with this… flesh before.

You have worked with veal, yes? It is not dissimilar. Your profession taught you how to alter cooking methods for beef, poultry, mutton, or pork, yes? Use your instincts. And veal would be a suitable starting point for your cooking preparations.

And, y-you should know? You have eaten this flesh before?

Many times. But infrequent enough that each moment still has an indelible impression upon me. I remark each and every woman I have eaten with fond memories like one would have past girlfriends. When prepared well, the flesh of a hairless doe is a complex material of exquisite quality, a little bit like veal, a little bit like pork. I am surprised. Weren’t you curious after having murdered your wife? Did you not wonder what her flesh would taste like after you have cut her open? After all, meat is meat and years of handling flesh from lesser game, had it ever crossed your mind that there was a way to disappear her so completely that you would have gotten away with it? Then you would not be in this predicament.

On that… I… I have been thinking. I know I’ve said I was open to this… but I’ve had time to think and… I don’t know if I can go through with this. My decision was made too quickly and I am so grateful to you and your brotherhood for getting me out from Regina Coeli. I can serve you some other way, can’t I? I can cook for you, some other meat perhaps and be in your eternal gratitude, and I will keep your secrets. I will do anything you want, but not this. Please. You are asking too much of me.

Why the change of heart?

The young woman… she still alive! She is in tears in the basement! She pleads for her release. Maggior… please. If you had brought me an already dead carcass perhaps, I might be able to proceed but… I have made my penance to God. I have made my confessions and asked for His forgiveness in prison and I don’t know if I can stomach murder again. If I go through with this, I don’t think I can ever face Him ever again.

How quaint. Your time in prison seemed to have corrupted you with ideas of morality. You consented when we last met, simple as that. A deal is a deal and the moment of refusal is long past, mio amico. It is servitude, or it is death. What is another soul to you? Consider her already dead, the moment we have marked her with the green string. You’ve done it before, I’m sure you can do it again. As the Maggiordomo, I hold certain discretions, and I will forget that you’ve even entertained the thought. The Occulti Vaticani do not need to know of your doubts. But do not despair. I am sure, once we show you all our gifts, you will be rest assured of your decision. 

But why me? Is there none other?

Image 1: (1 complete artwork in color)

Of course, there are others. Some you may have heard of, some famous names. You will not be the first, nor the few, nor the last. Nor the only ones who refused. Let me put it this way. Try doing a search for dead chefs who are celebrities or those who cook for the powerful. You’d be surprised how many you’d find had met an early and unfortunate end. Bourdain. Chiarello. Burrell. Rhodes. Kent. Bouley. Moulef. Grissom. Scheib. Campbell. Ruiz. Ali. Cardoz. Allen. Kunz. Violier. Cantu. Schoen. Hard. Pomeroy. Simon. And so on. All these names read and recited like a canticle chant. But I think you get the point.

Image 2: (1 complete artwork in color previously posted in an earlier update)

…

Make no mistake. We do want you. Do you know how rare it is to find an accomplished chef who has been disgraced, one who shares the Antipapa’s passion for history, let alone one who has already tasted the power to kill? Already, you have a foot in the door, it is a great opportunity, and any other decision will cause you unimaginable regret. Of course, with every prize comes a sacrifice. Your predecessor was a remarkable talent, not as proficient as you in the historical recipes, but unmatched in her scientific approach to modern molecular gastronomy. She may have rather suddenly met with an unfortunate accident, but it is due to her growing arrogance and unchecked personal ambition that ultimately became untenable for the Circle. But times are changing. People are starting to look into the past, and post-modernism has worn out its welcome. We have entered a new spiritual age and she has served her purpose. And now, you have quite some shoes to fill, although funny enough, one shoe she still wears. – chuckle –

…

Mi displace. That is an inside joke which you will soon understand. So, I will consider this matter closed? Can the Occulti Vaticani place our confidence in you?

Yes. Maggiordomo. I understand.

Image 3: (1 complete artwork in color previously posted in an earlier update)

Good! You have one day with the American, to do as you please, but I request that you do not blemish the meat. After the slaughter, baptize her in a marinade of sweet Mosto Cotto, and please, don’t use that inferior substitute balsamic vinegar instead. Saba will be acceptable. And the Antipapa requests that you leave the skin on. And the breast. His Eminence prefers that our dinner retain a sense of… recognizability of its human feminine origin if possible… as part of our sacrament. We have ways of providing you any ingredients you require. Just provide me a list. And please, document your preparation process as we may include honour you with its inclusion into the Arcanum Gastronomica. It is also possible that he might pay you a visit in the kitchen to bless the meat for the banquet. Do a well and proper job in the ways you are expertly trained to do, and all the unfettered gifts of the world below will open up for you.

— to be continued?—

Image 4: (1 complete artwork in color)

II. ALTERNATE VERSIONS

The following are alternate versions of the artwork published in Section 1. I wasn’t happy with the earlier renderings which has suffered from ‘over-treatment’ so I had to step back and re-do them with a more natural gentler “sexier” approach.         

Image 5-7: (3 complete artworks in color of alternate version of a published piece)

III. CLAUSI CUM CLAVE (works in progress)

Works in progress of the butcher processing the Occulti Vaticani’s sacrifice.

As above.

Image 8-13: (6 shaded & colored works in progress)

So below.

Image 14: (1 black & white sketch)

IV. BONUS WORKS IN PROGRESS

The following is an expansion of the HALL OF FAME project, now with a leg jamon trophy added.

Image 15: (1 colored unshaded work in progress)

The following are three sketches of a maillot cut. For two of them, I did one version and wasn’t happy with it. I felt the rendering was a little too busy and cleaned it up and made the lines sleeker and more natural.

Image 16-18: (3 black & white sketches, two of which are of a similar scene)

Finally, these are a a few loosely sketched ideas related to an old story I started years ago, titled, Kongregatsiya. There may be changes with the storyline too, so stay tuned.

Image 19-20: (1 black & white sketched montage of multiple scenes & 1 colored non-sketched work in progress)