I don’t know about you, but I LOVE bacon. So much that I have made my own bacon few times. So when we came across Bacon Jam in Barossa Valley during the wine tour, we immediately fell in love with it! I stocked up with few jars, but alas, they disappeared pretty quickly! So I started the research. Turns out it’s very popular in the US, it’s just we here in Australia are lagging way behind this deliciousness. After experimenting quite a few times and chucking one batch in the bin, this is a fruit of my bacony labour for your enjoyment!
Bacon Jam is super versatile. You can have it on fresh baquette, bruschetta, crackers, burgers, eggs, sandwiches, with cheese and wine, accompaniment to cold meats or add it to your cheese or charcuterie board. Also try adding it to other dishes to enhance the flavour. I used it in my Chicken Kiev paired with blue cheese, yumm. I make a batch that usually yields 5-6 ramekins, so I tend to give few away to friends and co-workers. That makes me a pretty popular person! :))
NOTES on method and ingredients:
*Recipe is definitely not set in stone. Once you know how it’s done, you will be experimenting and creating your own versions. You might want it more spicy or more boozy!
Last batch I did, I had to substitute maple syrup with honey, as I was out of it. In this case, reduce the amount of sugar a bit or use less honey. If it’s too sweet still, add salt, more vinegars and a splash of Worstershire Sauce. Also I didn’t have rum, so free poured Bourbon. Worked pretty good too!
DO NOT ADD SALT to the flavour base or anything else while cooking. You will be surprised how much salt there is in bacon and all the extra flavour rubs and spices you may want to choose. Once it’s reduced and blitzed adjust salt then.
*Bacon. Use short cut bacon. And cut as much fat as you can. Reason being is that when you have too much of the animal fat it will congeal to a fat top in the fridge, which will be unpleasant to eat. Also go not the cheap and flavourless but somewhere in between. You obviously don’t want to spent top dollar on something that will go in the jam. I found Aldi’s Berg brand, “delicately smoked” 🙂 is the best compromise between price and quality. At $10 for a kilo its WAY better and more flavoursome than cheapest bland bacon from Coles for the same price. But hey, if budget is not an issue, get the best, nicely smoked bacon.
*Cooking Method: I prefer slow cooker if I have time. It still gives the best results in my opinion. However, you can also try stove top and pressure cooker. As for oven – I got burned couple times, so I decided against it.
With stove top – keep simmering on medium heat for about 30-45 min. It will depend on the amount of liquid you have. Once it starts thickening, cool a bit and blitz with immersion blender till desired consistency. I love a bit of chunk!
Pressure Cooker – put it on for 15 min. Make sure you have enough liquid, add a bit of water if needed. Check (AFTER releasing the steam!) that it didn’t start sticking to the bottom. As once it starts burning, the whole thing will smell burned and can go in the bin. After 15 min if it’s not where you want it to be yet consistency wise – put it on for another 5. But don’t go too far away from it. You want to be able to smell the first hint of burning. I did it 3 times so far in pressure cooker, and both times 20 min in total was perfect.
Let me know what you think!!! Cheers, Marina
You are also able to see the video of this recipe below.
First, Prepare all your ingredients:
Cut off as much fat off the bacon and chop it up.
Chop onions and garlic
Chop up semi dried tomatoes and chillies
Peel off thyme leaves off big stalks.
Put all ingredients of your flavour base together and mix it up.
Heat up the pan and start browning your bacon in couple batches. Will take few minutes. Once nicely brown, remove from pan
Add onion and garlic to the same pan on medium heat. Fry till it gets translucent and add the oil from your semi dried tomatoes. Let it reduce a little. Add your chillies, and semi dried tomatoes and thyme. Once nicely combined and started to cook together add your cooked bacon. Combine and let cook for a min or so.
Now add your combined flavour base. Bring to simmer. Let it reduce a little. Taste and adjust flavours as you go. You might need to add more rum or balsamic, or salt or pepper.
Once you are happy with the taste, transfer to slow cooker. Add 1/2 cup of water, close the lid and cook for 4 hours on high. See Notes on cooking in Pressure Cooker or on Stove Top.
I love checking half way through, so you can still adjust things and maybe add more water if needed.Plus the smell is simply intoxicating!!
Once cooked (it should be nicely reduced and caramelised) - let cool a bit and blitz with stick blender. Now, I know that in my video I use food processor. I did for a while. However, last few batches I did, purely out of laziness I used stick blender. And it worked BETTER!!
First of all it's so much more convenient without moving the heavy food processor in out out, and washing up heaps afterwards. Secondly you can control the texture better. And it comes a bit more chunky than in food processor. Hence am changing the method here. Because I can! 🙂
It will be a little chunky, it's ok. It will not be as smooth as pate. - And then load up your ramekins, put cling wrap over it and to the fridge. It will last for 12 days.
Whatever you don't use it withing few days - put in the freezer. Just take up out a night before using.
Ingredients
Directions
You are also able to see the video of this recipe below.
First, Prepare all your ingredients:
Cut off as much fat off the bacon and chop it up.
Chop onions and garlic
Chop up semi dried tomatoes and chillies
Peel off thyme leaves off big stalks.
Put all ingredients of your flavour base together and mix it up.
Heat up the pan and start browning your bacon in couple batches. Will take few minutes. Once nicely brown, remove from pan
Add onion and garlic to the same pan on medium heat. Fry till it gets translucent and add the oil from your semi dried tomatoes. Let it reduce a little. Add your chillies, and semi dried tomatoes and thyme. Once nicely combined and started to cook together add your cooked bacon. Combine and let cook for a min or so.
Now add your combined flavour base. Bring to simmer. Let it reduce a little. Taste and adjust flavours as you go. You might need to add more rum or balsamic, or salt or pepper.
Once you are happy with the taste, transfer to slow cooker. Add 1/2 cup of water, close the lid and cook for 4 hours on high. See Notes on cooking in Pressure Cooker or on Stove Top.
I love checking half way through, so you can still adjust things and maybe add more water if needed.Plus the smell is simply intoxicating!!
Once cooked (it should be nicely reduced and caramelised) - let cool a bit and blitz with stick blender. Now, I know that in my video I use food processor. I did for a while. However, last few batches I did, purely out of laziness I used stick blender. And it worked BETTER!!
First of all it's so much more convenient without moving the heavy food processor in out out, and washing up heaps afterwards. Secondly you can control the texture better. And it comes a bit more chunky than in food processor. Hence am changing the method here. Because I can! 🙂
It will be a little chunky, it's ok. It will not be as smooth as pate. - And then load up your ramekins, put cling wrap over it and to the fridge. It will last for 12 days.
Whatever you don't use it withing few days - put in the freezer. Just take up out a night before using.
