I made this exactly as written. I thought it was fine but nothing special. This was my first time using salt pork and I think I would have liked this recipe more if I used another seasoning meat, or perhaps no meat. For me the herbs need to be dialed in a bit more too so I'd suggest perusing some other recipes to get some ideas so you can make adjustments to this recipe if need be. With a little tobacco it ended up tasting good though.