bacon marmalade

What doesn’t taste good with bacon in it? Bacon continues to capture the imagination of chefs and home cooks from around the world. Rather than limiting it to savory dishes, they are using it in cakes, cookies, sweet muffins and even frosting. I get a kick out of food fads but bacon bits in my chocolate frosting doesn’t grab me. However, I loved the idea of bacon marmalade – smokey, salty and sweet!

My recipe could just as easily been called onion marmalade but that would have kind of defeated catching the ‘bacon train’. The next time you are serving hors d’oeuvres give this dish a try. It’s simple to make, fantastic to eat and very foodie!

Bacon marmalade

4 slices thick bacon

4 pounds yellow onions, sliced thin

2 teaspoons sea salt

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

10 sprigs thyme, leaves picked

1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Cook the bacon until crisp, then remove and set aside, leaving all the rendered fat in the skillet.

Add the onions and salt to the skillet, reduce the heat to medium and cook until the onions soft – about 15 minutes. Stir often

Chop the bacon finely then add it and the remaining ingredients to the pan. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the liquid is almost gone, stirring occasionally (about an hour).

Remove from the heat, stir in thyme leaves and black pepper and let cool.

I served my bacon marmalade on a thin slice of cranberry and fennel bread topped with a Danish blue cheese.

Thanks for reading.