Bacon Onion Marmalade Redux

Bacon Onion Marmalade with Goat Cheese on Ciabatta

My friend Josephine invited me, my boyfriend, and a bunch of other wonderful people over to her place for a Bacon Extravaganza.

She challenged us to make anything we wanted, as long as bacon was a key ingredient.

I knew immediately that I needed to revisit my Onion Bacon Marmalade I made a while ago and up the bacon big time.

Hence, Bacon Onion Marmalade was born.



Before we get to the recipe, here's some pics of what everybody else made:

Bacon Scones

Frisbee Salad - Fiddlehead Ferns, Garlic Scapes, Alfalfa Sprouts, Orange Zest, Coffee Glazed Bacon, Peach Balsamic, Chives, Crumbled Goat Cheese, Balsamico, Pignoli Nuts, Dried Cranberries.

Panchetta Crisps 3 ways: Mascarpone/Maple, Fig/Brie, and Gorgonzola/Pear.

Pork Belly with Red Wine reduction sauce and Apples

Bacon Creamed Corn

Bacon Wrapped Sweet and Smokey Chicken

Bacon Cheddar Biscuits

Peanut Butter Cheesecake dipped in dark chocolate bacon ganache topped with fleur de sel.

Bacon, Bourbon, Chocolate and Cherry Bread Pudding.

Bacon Onion Marmalade

2 lb Onions (sliced thin)
1 lb bacon
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup strong brewed coffee



Directions:
1. Place a large, non-reactive pan over medium-low heat. Add the bacon. The goal and render the fat. Once the bacon has crisped, remove and put aside. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of bacon fat from the pan.
2. Turn up the heat to medium, add the onions. Stir to make sure the onions are coated with the bacon fat. Cook covered with a tight lid for about 20 minutes. Continue to cook stirring every 5 to 10 minutes until the onions begin to turn golden brown.
3. In the meantime, crumble the bacon. We will be adding this back to the pan later.
4. Add the sugars, half of the crumbled bacon, balsamic vinegar and coffee to the onions. Cook over medium to medium-low heat until vicious. This will take a couple of hours.
5. Remove half of the bacon/onion mixture and process in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add the pureed bacon/onion mixture and remaining half of the crumbled bacon back to the pan and combine.
6. Remove from heat and let cool before storing. Place in a glass or heat resistant container. Cover and refrigerate. Some of the fat may become solid at the top after cooling. Scrape it off and discard if you like. Additionally, if the marmalade become too thick after cooling, simply reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds and it should spread pretty easily.

After making the new version of my marmalade, I discovered it tasted overwhelmingly of onions and a very slight bacon flavor. This wasn't good in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, the resulting recipe was delicious and a definite improvement if I was aiming for an Onion Bacon concoction. However, I was aiming for something more bacon.

So, I crisped up another pound of bacon.

I crumbled it up and stirred it in to half of the Onion Bacon mix.

The results. Victory.

In the end, I had 2 spreads. An Onion Bacon Marmalade and a Bacon Onion Marmalade. Score.