Bacon Jam

No fancy title.  Because it's hard to come up with words any more spectacular than bacon and jam together.  Don't squish up your face in disbelief, dear friends, like you did years ago when I posted my crockpot cherry chicken recipe.  That is in my most searched for blog posts still today.  Always amazing me, to be honest.

I found the recipe I shared yesterday for sweet potato biscuits and immediately thought that they needed bacon jam. 

Which is odd considering I've never seen nor heard of bacon jam. 

I must have read it somewhere, at some point.  Because that's a pretty random idea.  Then again, I'm full of random ideas.  So who knows.

I googled and found lots of different recipes.  None were quite what I was looking for though.  So I just sort of went with my gut and made up my own.  And am beyond pleased with the results.  So pleased that I may or may not have eaten many a spoonful just on its own.  It's seriously roll your eyes back in your head good, y'all.  It would be fabulous on anything from biscuits to pancakes to portabella mushrooms to eggs to crackers to an old rubber tire.

Without further ado, I give you...

BACON JAM!

Ingredients:
* 1 lb. of your favorite bacon
* 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
* 3 tsp. minced garlic
* 1 cup very strong brewed black coffee
* 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 cup real maple sugar
* 1/2 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper

Directions:
* Heat large, heavy pot (I used my cast iron dutch oven) up to medium-high.  Chop bacon into 1/2 inch slices with kitchen scissors or knife.  Add to screaming hot pot.  Cook down bacon until just starting to get crispy.

* Remove bacon from pot with slotted spoon, keeping as much bacon grease in pot as possible.  Set bacon in small dish off to the side for the moment.

* Add sliced onions to pot and grease.  Saute until just starting to caramelize.  I add the lid on and then stir to prevent burning every few minutes.

* About two minutes before the onions are completely caramelized, add the minced garlic.

* Add in coffee and vinegar and scrape up the goodness at the bottom of the pot.  Add back in the bacon too.

* Add brown sugar and real maple syrup.  (I would quit adding the word real if I trusted people to never use that fake crap masquerading around as maple syrup.  But I don't.)  Add in black pepper.  Stir well.

* Now you just need to cook this down to a texture that makes you slap happy.  Turn the temp a little lower and just let it thicken.  I cooked it waaaay down- it's rather thick and it's pure perfection in my mind. 


Please please tell me if you make this.  It's not low fat, clearly.  But it's also not an every day treat either.  It's a total crowd pleaser.  It's sweet and tangy and bacony and caramelized oniony and chewy and just completely awesome.  Trust me.  I would never lie to you about food, my friends.