Week 5/52
This week I made onion jam! I don’t know if jam is really the right term to use, but I don’t know what else to call it so I’m gonna stick with it.
Caramelized onions, shallots, garlic, and bacon.
I looked at a few recipes beforehand just to get a general idea, but this batch came from just working with what I had. Most recipes call for roasted garlic, but since the oven was broken I just sauteed with the onions and shallots. Next time! I wanted to recreate the sweet onion bacon jam from Father’s Office in LA, so a handful of bacon was thrown in the mix as well! (If I know I’m just going to end up chopping the bacon anyway, I like to buy the awkward bits and pieces from Trader Joe’s. Just as tasty, but much cheaper! Go unemployment.)
Here’s the general order of things:
- fry the bacon
- add onions and shallots, and cook until slightly brown and tender
- add garlic
- add brown sugar and chicken stock, then reduce down until everything is caramelized and smelling goooooooooooood
- let everything cool, then pulse it all a few times in a blender (since I don’t have a food processor =[)
- spread on EVERYTHING
It had a rich, sweet flavor that was definitely reminiscent of jam, yet a deep smokiness due to the bacon.
Grems and I spread the jam on top of burgers (whose patties were stuffed with Cotswald Double Gloucester cheese), and its sweetness was the the perfect compliment to the sharpness of the cheese and the savoriness of the meat.
If I could change anything about this dinner, I’d slice all the onions and shallots into smaller pieces so they could all cook a bit faster, and I’d cook the patty less so it’s more pink in the middle. But then maybe the cheese inside wouldn’t be as ooey gooey? I don’t know, I guess I’ll just have to keep experimenting!
