Bacon is delicious. Plain and simple, I love bacon. However, sometimes I want to do something different, other than just make a BLT or have it with a side of eggs. So I asked around for some bacon recipes, something different, maybe odd, but still tasted good. A customer of Zaycon Foods by the name of Joan and a blogger at How To Be A Housewife, mentioned bacon jam… um, “what?” and “ew!” both came to mind. She said there were tons of recipes for it if you search the internet. So I did. And came across this recipe from Tide and Thyme. Oh My Word. I don’t know how people think of these recipes, but its going to be a favorite around this house. It is a simple recipe, but make sure you have an afternoon available where you don’t have to go anywhere for a few hours. It does take some time to simmer. For you bacon fans, I give you…

Bacon Jam.
This recipe is pretty easy, I only had to buy some maple syrup and had everything else in my fridge, on my counter or in my cupboard.

Cut up a pound of Zaycon bacon into 1 inch sections. I get my kids involved in all of my cooking and baking. They get to learn and I get to let go of my OCD about cooking. Fry up the bacon in batches. A little plug about Zaycon bacon, it is medium cut and it cooks up nice. Typically, I like to bake it, it always comes out perfect. When your bacon is browned, but not super crispy, take it off the heat and set it on a few paper towels to soak up some of that grease. You will want to reserve about 2 tablespoons of grease in the pan.

While my bacon was browning (with the help of my daughter) I diced up a medium sized onion. I use Walla Walla sweet onions. We love Walla Walla onions, they are sweeter and overall have a great flavor. They are also grown fairly local to us.

Add about 4 cloves of chopped garlic to the onion. I cheat and buy my garlic in a jar. Its just easier fro me. Add it to the pan you used to brown the bacon. When the onion is transulcent, add the bacon back in the pan.

The you can add in all the other ingredients, a Tbsp of brown sugar, a Tbsp of hot sauce (I think it could use more and will double the hot sauce next time), 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup of maple syrup, black pepper to taste and…

a cup of coffee. We don’t drink coffee and I didn’t want to go buy some and have it go to waste. I do drink Teecino and so I used it instead. I am not sure what the difference would be. I’m guessing its for flavor and not the caffeine. This is where the waiting comes. You want to simmer it for around 2 hours, adding about 1/4 cup of water every 25 or so minutes as it needs it. It will end up looking like this:

The sauce will thicken up a bit. once you can’t tell the onions from the bacon, its ready. Take it off the stove and let it set for about 15-20 minutes. Your house will smell amazing and you will want to throw a few burgers on the grill or even toast a bagel and top with cream cheese to get it ready for a bit of this jam. I put it all in a wide mouth pint jar and used my hand mixer and gave it a few good pulses. I wanted to keep a few good pieces of bacon and not pulverize the whole batch. I couldnt keep my girls hands out of it. We had pretzel chips handy and taste tested it. Bacon heaven, I tell ya!Its sweet, it’s salty and has a tiny hint of a kick of spice. I think we will have a new favorite for BBQ’s around here. It made sound weird, but try it first before you dis it. Its got bacon in it!!

And while Zaycon bacon events are over and we won’t be back until this fall, the grilling pack is open for ordering. Imagine this on an all beef frank or a keilbasa sausage, maybe eat it as an appetizer while you are grilling the pork ribs.

For the full recipe, check out the post at Tide and Thyme.