Bacon Jam

It sounds like the name of a rock band, but bacon jam is a real thing. It’s not actually a jam, as jam is made of fruit juice, crushed fruit, and pectin. But if you search “bacon jam” you’ll find recipes.

Bacon jam is a relish similar to Austrian Verhackert, plus sweetener. Basically, it combines bacon, onion, brown sugar, and vinegar, which are put into a food processor, thrashed to pieces, then put into jars. There are many variations on the basic recipe such as bourbon bacon jam and slow-cooker bacon jam. Martha Stewart has a recipe, Chef John has one, chow.com has one, and you can, of course, purchase prepared bacon jam from a number of online sources.

Some recipes add garlic, and honey, and shallots, and piment d’Espelette (a very hoity-toity red chili pepper from France). Some recipes add ginger and ground mustard and chili powder and maple syrup. Some add sherry vinegar, and balsamic vinegar, and black pepper, and cayenne pepper. And so on.

I like bacon – a lot – so I suspect I’d love to smear bacon jam on various foods. I also like peanut butter, and for my entire 8th grade school year I made and ate the very same brown-bagged lunch every day – “peanut butter and baloney on white bread” sandwiches, usually followed by a moon pie. Bacon is good with peanut butter. In fact, Elvis loved peanut butter-bacon-banana sandwiches. I think peanut butter and bacon jam on white bread would probably be awesome, with or without the banana. Someone who knows how to cook should try making that.

Writing this blog post is making me hungry.