What...Bacon Jam...Seriously

When I saw a recipe for Bacon Jam on Food Renegade the first thing I did was e-mail Spring and say "WE HAVE TO MAKE THIS".  Spring shares in my love with bacon so I knew she'd understand the urgency, I mean, Bacon Jam, how can you not want to try that!! 

Bacon, oh how I love you!!

Needless to say, Spring was over at my place yesterday to make our own version of Bacon Jam.  I had spent some time checking things out before she came over with the kids and came up with something I thought was pretty good, even better was the fact that it included whiskey.  I love cooking with wine, it adds so much flavour and a robust flavour to a lot of dishes and it's fun to drink it while you're cooking, but deep down, I'm a whisky girl (or rye girl,whatever your preference, a lot of it depends on where you live).  My drink of choice is either Wiser's with Ginger Ale or Crown Royal with Pepsi, Crown and Ginger is just too sweet for my taste, not that we need to discuss my drinking tendencies because we're making Bacon Jam here people:)

I found that a lot of recipes online add bourbon and I don't have any of it lying around but I do have whisky and I know I'll always have some on hand if I want to make some more Bacon Jam so that's what I'm going with. 

Bacon Jam

2 pounds Smoked Bacon, cut into 1" chunks
2 Onions, chopped
1 Shallot, minced
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
3/4 c. Apple Cider Vinegar
1 c. Strong, Brewed Coffee
2/3 c. Brown Sugar
1/2 c. Whiskey
1/3 c. Maple Syrup
1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 Tsp Chipotle Chili Powder
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

Spring chopping up bacon, I did the onions...we're gonna have to switch it up next time..lol

Start off by cooking the bacon over medium-high heat in a Dutch Oven for about 15 minutes.  You want it browned, but not crispy. Once it's done, remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the onions and shallots to the pot and cook them for about 5 minutes, until they're nice and soft.

 Once the onions and shallots are cooked, add the garlic, brown sugar and spices and season with some salt and pepper.  Let that cook for about 3-5 minutes and then add the whisky, let that cook down a bit, about another 5 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients, except the bacon, and bring it to a boil, scrapping up any brown bits on the bottom.  Once it's boiling, add the bacon and reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer, stirring occasionally for about 2-2 1/2 hours.  You want it take on a syrupy consistency.

Remove it from the heat and let it cool for about 20 minutes. 

If there's any fatty, crappy stuff on top after it's cooled skim that off and then pour it into a food processor.  Pulse the food processor until the bacon is finely chopped, about 6 or so pulses.

This makes about 4 cups of bacon jam that should keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks or in the freezer for 4 weeks according to the info I found online for storing/keeping bacon jam. 

I tried it out on crackers and it was awesome, a little sweet with a little bit of heat at the end.  It's definitely a recipe you can play with and I am going to do just that, maybe take a little bit of the sweet off or add a little bit more heat.  If you don't like coffee, don't worry, you don't taste coffee at all and from the reading I did, it's a neccessity. 

Faking a BBQ

Connor is heading to his Dad's for a few days and we already know Aaron's not going to be home so it looks like it's just me and Little Miss J for dinner tonight, scratch that, me, Little Miss J and my mom because she's coming after her spin class.  I've had a craving for BBQ lately, probably because it warms up for a day then gets cold and then warms up again, but it's going to be too much work to get the BBQ in action tonight so I'm going to have to fake it. 

We bought these boneless pork loin chops at Costco awhile ago and they are HUGE...2" thick and just monster chops and since I'm onto BBQ, I figured why not cook them up. The problem with these monster chops is how to cook them so that they're not black on the outside and raw on the inside.  I did a lot of searching to find a way to suit my purpose tonight and I think I've come up with my solution. 

You'd Think They Came Off The Grill...THEY DIDN'T!!

First, I'm going to give them a quick brine, then a good sear with a dry rub and finally into the Dutch Oven with a homemade BBQ sauce to finish them off in the oven.  Hopefully this will quench my craving for BBQ and while I'm at it, I'm going to broil some asparagus so I can get as close to my summer BBQ as possible.  Still trying to figure out whether I want to do potatoes, rice or quinoa...hmmm, probably be a last minute decision but I'm leaning towards steamed potatoes.

Baked Pork Chops BBQ Style

For the Brine

4 c. Water
1/4 c. Coarse Salt

For the Dry Rub

1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Dried Oregano
1 Tsp Dried Thyme
1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
1/2 Tsp Fresh Ground Pepper
1/2 Tsp Chipotle Chili Powder
1/2 Tsp Dry Mustard

For the BBQ Sauce

My secret BBQ Sauce ingredient:)

1 1/2 c. Brown Sugar, packed
1 1/4 c. Ketchup
2/3 c. Cider Vinegar
1/2 c. Water
2 Tbsp Worchestershire Sauce
2 1/2 Tsp Dry Mustard
2 Tsp Smoked Paprika
2 Tsp Liquid Smoke
1 Tsp Coarse Salt
1/2 Tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1/2 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 Onion, diced
3 Celery Stalks, finely diced
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Butter

For the Chops

3 2" Thick Boneless Pork Loin Chops
2-3 Tbsp Avocado Oil

Start off by brining the chops, lay them in a single layer in a bowl with a lid and mix the salt and water together and pour that over them.  Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for an hour and a half.  Take them out and let the chops sit at room temperature for about a half hour. 

Mix up the dry rub by combining all the ingredients together.

Get the BBQ sauce ready next, start by taking the Dutch Oven and over medium heat, melt the butter.  Add the onions and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.  Combine the remaining ingrediants in a large bowl and stir to combine, add them to the mix and bring the entire mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes to allow it to thicken up a bit.

While the BBQ is simmering, take the dry rub and, well, rub it all over the chops and preheat your oven to 350F.

Take a large skillet, preferably not non-stick, and heat up 2 Tbsp of the avocado oil of medium high heat.  Add the chops and sear them, 2-3 minutes per side...do your best not to peek:)  If you feel the need to add the additional oil, do so...you're almost "blackening" them, it'll get a little smoky.  Then using tongs, set them up on their sides and sear them as well, about 30-45 seconds a side.

Once the chops are done, add them to the BBQ sauce, cover and shoot them into the oven.

Cook until they reach an internal temperature of about 140F, I did mine an hour and a half, but I think an hour would do.

Serve them up and spoon some of the leftover BBQ sauce on them...so smoky good...they passed the BBQ test:)

Check out what we had with them to complete my summer BBQ in March:)

It's a Little Chili Out

It must be the cold weather that makes me crave the warmth that Mexican styled food gives me.  I don't know why, it just seems to warm me up from the inside out.  It seems that as I get older the cold holds less fun and more aches and pains.  I wonder how it is that as a kid I would have no problem jumping in a pool in the middle of April but now unless it's as warm as yellow toilet water I don't even want to dip in a toe...lol.  Needless to say, I want something to warm me up today and nothing does that like a good bowl of chili and fresh out of the oven cornbread so that's what on the menu tonight. 

Over here at Collver Inc., we have some chili problems though...I don't like beans, Aaron does and Aaron doesn't like spicy foods but I do.  I've spent some time checking out lots of different recipes, experimented with a couple and have come up with one that I wanted to test drive today.  It's a mix of a couple recipes from my Cook's Illustrated and Best of Bridge Slow Cooker cookbooks.  Another thing I wanted to try out today was using the whole dried chilis I have, I've never cooked with them before and figured chili would be a good way to start.  

Well, here I go, an experiment that I hope turns out for the good:)

Chili Con Carrie (Attempt 1)

1 Lb Extra Lean Ground Beef
2 Mild Italian Sausages, casings removed, pinched into bite size pieces
5 Slices Bacon, cut into  1" pieces

2 Medium Onions
5 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 28 oz. Can Diced Tomatoes with Juice
1 19 oz. Can Red Kidney Beans, rinsed and drained
2 Tbsp Lime Juice
1 Cup Chicken Broth
2 1/2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Cornmeal
1 1/2 Tbsp Epicure's Chipotle Chili Powder
1/2 Tbsp Ground Cumin
2 Tsp Dried Oregano
1 Tsp Epicure's Ground Coriander
1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 Whole Dried Chilis
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
2 1/2 Tbsp Epicure's Masa Harina
1/3 Cup Water

 

To start things off, I removed the stems and seeds from the dried chilis, this is where a lot of the heat is stored so that won't do, but if you like the spice, save some of the seeds for a kick of heat.  Once everything was out, I tore them up into smaller pieces and put them in a large skillet over medium-high heat to toast them, stirring frequently so they don't burn, it'll turn them bitter, and toasted them for about 4 minutes.  If they start to smoke, turn down the heat, you just want them to soften up a bit and start to be fragrant.  Once they're done, I threw them in my food processor to cool down.

 



This is where the major heat
from a chili comes from

While waiting for the chilis to cool down, I started cooking the meats.  First up was the bacon, the skillet I used for chilis, heat it over medium-high heat and add the bacon.  I wanted it to brown up and start to crisp so stirring it frequently I let it cook for about 5 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon I transferred it to my slow cooker and then added the sausage and browned it for about 2-3 minutes.  Again with the slotted spoon it went into the slow cooker.  Next up was the ground beef.  I added it to the pan an broke it up into small pieces while it was cooking, about 4-5 minutes.

Browning the sausage

While the beef was cooking I added the chipotle chili, cumin, oregano, ground coriander and a 1/4 tsp salt to the processor and processed it until it was finely ground, about 2 minutes.  Then, leaving the processor running I added just over a 1/4 cup of the chicken stock to make a paste.  Once it was done, I scrapped it into a small bowl.  I tossed the onions into the processor next and pulsed it about 6 or so times to roughly chop them. 

Chili Paste

Once the beef was done cooking I added it to the bacon and sausage in the slow cooker and drained all but a tablespoon or so of the grease.  I reduced the heat on the stove to medium and added the onions and cooked them until they were softened, about 5 minutes.  Then I added the garlic and cooked it until it was fragrant, about another minute.  From there I added the chili paste, tomatoes and brown sugar and stirred it up until the chili paste was mixed through.  I added the remaining broth and brought the whole mixture to a boil, scrapping the bottom of the pan for any brown bits. 

















I poured the mixture over the meats and added the beans and lime juice. Then I gave it a good stir and put the cover on.  I cooked it on high for 5 hours but you could also do it for 6-8 hours on low heat. 

About an hour and a half into cooking I had a little taste test.  There was a big bite:)  It cleared my sinuses and they didn't need clearing...Aaron definitely wouldn't be able to take it and neither would the kids, so I added another 2 1/2 Tbsp of Brown Sugar and a half a cup of water. 

About 20 minutes before serving I mixed the Masa Harina with the water and then added it to the chili to thicken it up a bit and then tossed in the chopped up Red Bell Pepper.  I had given it another taste test just before adding the peppers and Masa Harina paste and again, it was hot, so I added a 1/2 Tbsp Brown Sugar and a 1/2 Tbsp of White Sugar.

I LOVE Cornbread:)

It looks good...but it'll clear your sinuses,
a little too much heat :(

After serving it up with some homemade cornbread, which was awesome, it was a good chili if you like the heat, for what I wanted not so much.  I had invited Jay over for dinner and he ended up taking the leftovers home because it was more along the lines of his taste.  For myself, I'm disappointed with my little concoction, my goal was to not have a lot of heat to it and I know I didin't acheive that.  Oh well, that's how experimentation goes, next time I'm going to try dropping the Chipotle Chili to 1/2-1 Tbsp and the Cayenne Pepper to an 1/8 Tsp and only use 1 Whole Dried Chili Pepper so that I hopefully won't have to add additional sugar and water to tone it down. 

If you like your chili with a good bite, this one's for you...if not, I'll let you know how the "toned down" version is when I make it.