Bacon Jam with Whisky and Onions

Submitted by Toast

This one is always an attention grabber at a dinner party or potluck. The blend of salty, smoky and sweet with a hint of spice in the background is simply amazing and I generally just serve it warm with slices of fresh baguette. Of course you should feel free to serve it other ways, on crackers, with sharp cheddar... I've even contemplated having it as the topping for a baked brie (more on that later if I try it.)

This is a recipe I originally found somewhere on the net but I'm ashamed to say I have lost the link. I've adjusted it to fit my tastes by adding some chipotle for the heat and upping the sweetness level a bit to compensate.

Yield

A little under 2 cups depending on how fatty your bacon is.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. thick cut or slab bacon
• 1 Large Diced Yellow Onion or Vidalia if you can get them. Adjust as you wish for how onion-y you want the final product to be. Start with this your first time.
• 1 TBSP Pureed Chipotle in Adobo (IF you're like me you have little containers of this frozen in your freezer, replace with hot sauce if you must)
• 1/2 Cup of Whiskey - I generally use bourbon of a decent but not extreme quality
• 1/2 Cup of Coffee - hot and strong
• 1/3 Cup of Maple Syrup or Golden Syrup - Personally I prefer the added layer of flavour of the maple
• 1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2 TBSP Minced Garlic
• 4 TBSP Brown Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Allspice
• 1/4 tsp Paprika
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp Fresh Ground Pepper (Optional, I sometimes grind some black pepper in to up the spicyness a bit.)
• 2 TBSP Tamarind Paste (Optional but it's another interesting layer of flavour)

Method

• Thick slice your bacon if it's a slab then cut/snip your bacon into managable pieces. I generally just make squares and cook it until it's mostly cooked but still a little floppy.

• Remove the bacon and drain the fat leaving about one or two TBSP behind

• With the heat on fairly low add your onion and get it sweating a bit before adding the brown sugar and stirring vigorously.

• Cook for about fifteen minutes or until fairly caramelized before you add the garlic and chipotle.

• Cook for a minute or two to get the garlic fragrant, add your spices and mix again bringing out the spice into the grease and cook for another couple minutes.

• Add the bacon and combine thoroughly before adding the syrup, vinegar, coffee and whisky

• Raise the heat to medium high and get the whole mixture to a boil stirring fairly regularly.

• Once it's well combined reduce the heat to low and leave it to simmer slow. Give it a quick stir every 15 minutes or so and add a bit of liquid (water/coffee) if it seems to be getting too dry.

• Cook for 90 to 120 minutes (until it's moist and sticky but there isn't really any liquid left)

• Pulse quickly in a food processor/mini chopper. I like it very meaty so I only pulse enough to get everything sort of uniform in texture. If you want it more spreadable feel free to pulse longer.

• As mentioned I generally just serve this on fresh or lightly toasted baguette slices.