Bacon. It’s my favorite five letter word! In fact, when I was doing a lot of catering, bacon was my secret weapon. If it was a breakfast catering, I would make three times the amount requested, and it was never enough. For a lunch or dinner catering, I would make beer candied bacon as an appetizer and just pile it on a giant platter. Again, every crumb gobbled up. Never enough. Don’t know what to make for breakfast, lunch or dinner? Just add bacon somewhere in the dish, and you can bet it’ll be a hit. Here’s another idea that’ll get your taste buds sizzling—Bacon Jam. Just seeing those two words together, I knew it was going to be delicious, and I was not disappointed. Bacon Jam can be used in so many ways! It’s fantastic on a charcuterie board with lots of different cheeses, crackers and crustini. Bacon Jam also makes a wonderful condiment for a turkey burger! I cooked up a large ground turkey pattie, (beef is just as tasty) loaded it up with sliced tomato, lettuce, avocado, blue cheese dressing and then I slathered the pattie with bacon jam. YUM! It turned a very ordinary turkey burger into a super burger! A few things have to go right to get the perfect bacon jam. Cook the pieces of bacon until they are crispy. When the bacon foams up (that’s the bacon fat talking) that is a good indication that the bacon is just about done! Also, make sure to use sweet yellow onions, which add the natural sweetness to the salty bacon! Perfect combination! So, if bacon is your jam, Bacon Jam may be just the recipe to spread around!
Watch my How To Video for Bacon Jam here!
| Servings |
- 1 1/2 pounds bacon chopped
- 3 medium or 2 large sweet yellow onions rough chopped
- 2 cloves largeof garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup strong black coffee
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Ingredients
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- Place bacon in a large, skillet and cook over medium heat until bacon is crispy and the rendered fat is foaming, about 10 minutes. Remove bacon and fat from skillet. Return two tablespoons of bacon fat to skillet. Sauté onions, garlic and 1 teaspoon salt in the bacon fat until soft and translucent, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir brown sugar, maple syrup, red wine vinegar, coffee and water into onion mixture, and cook for a few minutes. Chop bacon into small pieces and then add to onion mixture. Add pinch of red pepper flakes and cook until thickened about 10 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar, stirring well. Drizzle with olive oil and stir until shiny.
