Bacon Jam (Umami)

By MaryEllen

From the author:
I do not know how I could have possibly missed the whole bacon jam band wagon when it came around a while ago but I recently discovered it and jumped right on board! I mean, how could you possibly go wrong making a jam where the primary ingredient is bacon? I was completely smitten with the idea and had to make a batch right away!

Luckily it was pretty easy to find a bacon jam recipe online, there are a ton of them and each one was a little different. After poring over dozens of recipes the base seemed to come down to; lots of bacon, some onion, garlic, vinegar, coffee and sugar and from there you can go with whatever you like. I chose to go with some of my favourite things including with maple syrup and a splash of bourbon and I could not resist adding a source of spicy heat in the form of some smoky chipotle chili peppers. With all of the ingredients in this jam, you know that it is just packed with flavour and umami with a nice balance of salty from the bacon, sweet from the brown sugar and maple syrup, tangy from the cider vinegar and spicy from the chipotles!

Ingredients

• 1 pound thick smoked bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup coffee (brewed)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1/2 cup Orange Juice
• 1 t. grated orange zest
• 1/4 t. ground ginger
• pepper to taste

Preparation

Step 1

Bacon jam is really easy to make which is good because you are going to be wanting to make it all the time! In fact, I recommend doubling or tripling the recipe!

A sweet, salty, smoky, spicy and down right tasty bacon jam that is the definition of umami! This bacon jam goes well on toast for breakfast and makes for a great condiment in sandwiches and burgers of all sorts!

Servings: makes 1-2 cups

Directions

Cook the bacon in a large sauce pan an over medium heat until the fat has rendered and the bacon starts to get crispy and set aside, reserving 1 tablespoon of the grease in the pan.

Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.

Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.

Add the vinegar and deglaze the pan.

Add the coffee, brown sugar, maple syrup, bourbon, bacon, orange juice and zest, and pepper, reduce the heat and simmer until reduced to a syrupy consistency, about 1-2 hours.

Looking for the recipe on the N&O website was fruitless, so I did a web search for recipes. This one was close but called to Chipolte so I took that out and added in the OJ and zest from the N&O recipe. Some of the measurements are different. This one had less coffee, which appealed to me!