The unholy love child of pulled pork and pate.

September 16, 2009 8:44 AM

Want to have a small bacon pick-me-up in the office or away from home? The food blog, Homesick Texan, presents the traditional recipe for Bacon Jam.
posted by 1f2frfbf (43 comments total)

I'm not 100% sure this should be called a Jam, but a bacon terrine sounds just as damn good. Weekend project!
posted by CharlesV42 at 8:48 AM on September 16, 2009

The food I was homesick for when I was away from Texas was homemade ice cream made with Big Red soda. Sadly, that's not here, but what is listed makes up for it.
posted by Bernt Pancreas at 8:51 AM on September 16, 2009

I just saw a bacon jam on TopChef Las Vegas. He won.
posted by MNDZ at 8:54 AM on September 16, 2009

If my arteries had fists, they'd be shaking at you right now!
posted by futureisunwritten at 8:56 AM on September 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

You know, I super-love bacon. And I'm probably going to try making this. Maybe even today.

But I wish for the bacon meme to end, all the same.
posted by padraigin at 8:57 AM on September 16, 2009 [2 favorites]

That is some mighty shite looking bacon they're using. Note to bacon memesters...visit your butcher, not WalMart.
posted by mrmojoflying at 8:58 AM on September 16, 2009

futureisunwritten: When my pudgy, greasy hand clutches at my straining heart for the last time, I shall regret nothing.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 8:58 AM on September 16, 2009 [2 favorites]

This is rilettes, kind of.

I bet this would be about a thousand times better, both texture and flavor-wise, made with chopped slab bacon instead of sliced vac-packed stuff. I'd eat it on slices of deeply toasted bread, with some cornichon or maybe some pickled beans or okra. Yum, man!

I'm dreaming of putting up a lot of confit this fall, and maybe curing the extra duck breasts and also trying some country pates. If we had a meat grinder I'd totally be lobbying for sausage-making. This just might make it on the list, too.
posted by peachfuzz at 9:03 AM on September 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

Part of the appeal of bacon is its simplicity. All these weird infusions and meat relishes are totally redundant.
posted by hermitosis at 9:05 AM on September 16, 2009

I really like bacon, and I always have, but I'm wondering when this "bacon trend" is going to join the trash heap of out-of-style memes alongside ninjas, chuck norris, and pirates.
posted by deanc at 9:08 AM on September 16, 2009

I've been reading her blog for awhile now, she's has a lot of gems in there.
posted by jsavimbi at 9:11 AM on September 16, 2009

I bet this would be about a thousand times better, both texture and flavor-wise, made with chopped slab bacon

Yes, anyone who uses vac-pack fake "center cut" (tm) bacon for this (like in the link) doesn't get bacon. Go buy a god-damned slab of side bacon from a butcher, preferably one that does their own curing. Have them cross-cut it into 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick slices on a bias. Fry slowly into thick meaty strips and then do whatever the hell you want with it because it will be *good* no matter what. Otherwise, shut the hell up and eat your fatty little strips of sadness while you make bacon jokes.
posted by mrmojoflying at 9:12 AM on September 16, 2009 [3 favorites]

I love that blog. There's a recipe somewhere on there for "green sauce" (not salsa verde, but similar) that's very close to how Tex-Mex restaurants in my neck of the woods serve it. Probably because it's so close to salsa verde it's seemingly impossible to find recipes for it online, but the author's is very close (and she namedrops one of my favorite places to eat as the inspiration for it).
posted by kryptondog at 9:12 AM on September 16, 2009

It's a long running food blog that already has several recipes involving bacon. Would you call a post on an animals blog with cats part of the "cat meme" or "cat trend"?
posted by kmz at 9:13 AM on September 16, 2009

kmz, it's more that this was featured on MeFi because it's about bacon than it appeared on someone's food blog.

I'm not the first to note that this bacon thing is getting tired.

Fun fact: http://www.metafilter.com/tags/bacon is blocked by my workplace's web filter because of "sex."
posted by deanc at 9:17 AM on September 16, 2009

Yes, anyone who uses ... fatty little strips of sadness while you make bacon jokes.

Is this the "I don't even own a TV" of bacon posts?
posted by owtytrof at 9:18 AM on September 16, 2009 [4 favorites]

More bacon, please: [ ]

Please let his bacon meme end: [X]
posted by fixedgear at 9:23 AM on September 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

Who's headlining Bacon Jam this year, Charlie Daniels or Black Oak Arkansas?
posted by box at 9:23 AM on September 16, 2009

Is this the "I don't even own a TV" of bacon posts?

Cantankerously yours,

mrmojoflying

Seriously, though, I had just gotten off the phone with my great uncle whose butcher shop I grew up helping out in. We talked about bees (he sold his own honey), how to properly cure meats (he did his own), and all the other things that make a 90-year-old man happy. I must be taking over his lawn!
posted by mrmojoflying at 9:24 AM on September 16, 2009

maybe it's just me, but when top chef featured bacon jam, my jaw dropped and i was like "where can i get this magical wonder?" but now that i've actually seen pictures of what it looks like up close, i am kind of grossed out by the idea of bacon jam.
posted by kerning at 9:26 AM on September 16, 2009

"Imminent death of BaconMania predicted." Feb. 20, 2009

Sept. 16, 2009: BaconMania still alive and well.
posted by battlebison at 9:28 AM on September 16, 2009

No more bacon please. Pretty please. It's like kinky sex. Having it once in a while it's amazing and wonderful. Having it all the time leaves you bruised and worn out.
posted by msbutah at 9:33 AM on September 16, 2009

What kmz said. The whole reason there even is a somewhat-absurd, somewhat-heartfelt "bacon meme" to begin with is that people love the stuff. I strongly doubt that herds of vegan Brooklynites are going to rush home to make and shovel down ladles of irony-tinged bacon jam just to boost their hipster cred.

If I knew that many MeFites liked headcheese and found a genuinely tasty-sounding recipe for macaroni-n-headcheese (sorry, fourcheesemac), I'd probably post it so as to be helpful. It's not like this blog is dedicated to publishing plans for creating bacon chain mail suits or reconstructions of Escher prints in bacon or something.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:35 AM on September 16, 2009

deanc: "I really like bacon, and I always have, but I'm wondering when this "bacon trend" is going to join the trash heap of out-of-style memes alongside ninjas, chuck norris, and pirates."

Ninjas are still in style. You just don't see them that much.
posted by mccarty.tim at 9:37 AM on September 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

I was glad to see on Top Chef (spoilers, I guess) that while bacon jam won the quickfire, another contestant was called onto the carpet in the main challenge for using bacon needlessly. There are other flavors, after all.
posted by Bookhouse at 9:37 AM on September 16, 2009

hmmmmmmm Canned heart attack... me/drools
posted by Mastercheddaar at 9:54 AM on September 16, 2009

I was hoping that the bacon-obsession internet meme would wither away at the same time as the collapse of the Crocs and sub-prime bubbles. But alas...
posted by Auden at 10:07 AM on September 16, 2009

I love jam. I love bacon. This makes me want to barf.
posted by onhazier at 10:14 AM on September 16, 2009

Baconfilter
posted by msalt at 10:17 AM on September 16, 2009

Yeah, but the bacon jam on the Top Chef episode did NOT look like the stuff on the blog.
posted by jadepearl at 10:24 AM on September 16, 2009

Ha, research before posting.

Here is the recipe for the Top Chef bacon jam which seems way involved and may have a flaw with the listing of espelette as an ingredient in the instructions.
posted by jadepearl at 10:28 AM on September 16, 2009

"I'm not a loser... it's those Metafilter users who are losers! They laughed at my... bacon jam. But it is I who will laugh last, for I have created the Bacon Gun! A gun so powerful, it can turn anything, and everything, into bacon! And with it, I will eat... the Internet."
posted by Rhaomi at 10:46 AM on September 16, 2009

Dear bacon fetishists,

You should all be rounded up and shipped off to Australia (my catch-all solution for any problem). I am sick of your shit.

Sincerely,
Brosef K
posted by Brosef K at 10:53 AM on September 16, 2009

I have to say, the description of it as "bacon jam" had me squicking, because I'm really not that into the whole "sweet/savory" flavor combination. (I cannot STAND cleaning my pancake syrup from my plate with bits of sausage, for example.)

But then I looked at the ingredient list, and it looks actually like a sort of yummy spread. Bacon, garlic, chipotle peppers? Yum!
posted by hippybear at 11:26 AM on September 16, 2009

... and doesn't bacon give you swine flu?
posted by Auden at 11:56 AM on September 16, 2009

@peachfuzz: I hear you. This post made me think exactly alike. Autumn = confit time! The sweet smell of melting lard in a slow, slow oven. The hint of cloves, the laurel, the cleaning of liver for a pain de campagne. And indeed the pulling of rillettes, which works best if you pour yourself a serious glass of eau-de-vie. Of course all this leads to huge pans of slowly cooked choucroute and onion soup. And from there on it's a straight line to cassoulet and...

Fucking hell, I really need to eat something...
posted by ouke at 11:57 AM on September 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

Fun fact: http://www.metafilter.com/tags/bacon is blocked by my workplace's web filter because of "sex."

deanc -- me, too! In fact, practically every metafilter tag is blocked that way. The rest of metafilter gets through just fine. I have no idea how that happened.
posted by Karmakaze at 12:13 PM on September 16, 2009

Bacon jammers.
posted by fiercecupcake at 12:14 PM on September 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

just relax and ignore the bacon meme.

people will always be makin' bacon and posting the results online.
posted by porn in the woods at 2:38 PM on September 16, 2009

Finally, a bacon product that disgusts me!
posted by sonic meat machine at 4:47 PM on September 16, 2009

The Top Chef recipe looks very tasty, but I want to know how I personally can be mounted with butter.
posted by jeoc at 6:16 PM on September 16, 2009

That there bacon jam probably would have gone *great* on this. I tried to play the "cram as much bacon into one dish" game and learned that yes, sometimes there can be too much bacon.

Btw bacon weaves are hard to make.
posted by Gonestarfishing at 9:27 PM on September 16, 2009

I don't care much for the bacon, but the Texan diaspora in me loves her other recipes. And I miss Big Red too. And pralines. And pecans picked up off the ground.
posted by jdfan at 8:03 AM on September 17, 2009