Jammin' Bacon!

So you probably thought that your birthday was about someone taking you out to dinner, right? Not around here. Hubs thinks I'm crazy because when he asked me where I'd like him to take me, I told him I wanted to cook. And cook, I did, and cook and bake and cook! I had a fabulous day of shopping at my favorite haunts for ingredients and then spent the afternoon turning them into some creative dishes!

The second dish was actually the most labor intensive because it was several dishes in one.  We had a lovely seared foie gras on a crostini with bacon jam, baby kale and a sunny side up egg but this bacon jam is a small spoonful of heaven.

Of course you know I had to make the baguette for the crostini and the bacon jam. Funny thing is that no one asked for the recipe for the bread, or how to properly sear the foie gras (which by the way, you can pretty much only buy at Italian Star Deli  check them out also on facebook , here in the Queen city), nope - everyone wants to know how to make the bacon jam.

I started with my own home cured & smoked bacon. For this particular batch, I used maple syrup, brown sugar and tons of fresh thyme (as well as the required salt and sodium nitrate). I cured it for 12 days in the fridge, turning once a day and then smoked it with a combo of apple and alder woods.

2 pounds of side pork trimmed, patted dry, rubbed with the cure and vacuum sealed.

In the smoker.

A 6 hour smoke. yummy stuff.

Now for the bacon jam. 

Bacon-tomato jam

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound chopped side bacon
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 TBS dijon mustard
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp worchestershire sauce
• pinch of hot pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 Bay leaf

method:

Brown bacon over medium low heat until brown, add onions and garlic and saute until onions are translucent. Add in remainder of ingredients. and reduce to a simmer. Let simmer for about an hour to an hour and a half or until it becomes thick with a thick syrupy texture. Remove bay leaf before proceeding.

Puree in a blender while still hot, until it's a jam-like but slightly chunky. Cool completely.

The bacon jam has a great smoky, sweet and slightly spicy taste if you've used the pepper flakes. It goes great on sandwiches or as we used it - a foil for foie gras, arugula and a sunny side up egg. You don't have to make your own bacon but DO choose one with a good smoky taste since it makes all the difference!

Try it, you'll like it.