Okay. Stop what you’re doing right now and make this. Really. And make at least a double batch. Really.

I have just found my new favorite food. Really.

My friend Katja mentioned this on Facebook the other day and had the recipe in her notes. I read it and knew I had to make it immediately. It’s funny, because while I like bacon, I tend to like it as bacon – with eggs at breakfast, on a burger or BLT – and leave the chocolate-dipping and crushed over cupcakes to someone else.

Yet, when I read the recipe I knew I had to make it right away. It hit all of the right buttons. Part of it was definitely the ingredients – this is food-science at its finest. Frying, caramelizing, smoke, sweet, acid, spice – and the brilliance of coffee, one of my most favorite ingredients in soups and stews. Another part was imagining all I could do with it.  My mind goes into serious overload, sometimes, when I start thinking about what I can do with something.  It’s why I pretty much never make the same thing twice the same way. There’s just too many things to eat to keep making the same things the same way all the time…

But I digress…

I decided to start off with a double-batch – I had that much confidence that it would be fabulous. And I was right – it is fabulous!

I started it at 3pm and planned on putting some on top of the pork chops we were having for dinner. Dinner is at 5 o’clock sharp, because Nonna needs her routine, so instead of pureeing it boiling hot, I just spooned some onto the chops.

O.M.G.

It was thick, gooey, sweet, smoky, just a tad spicy and rich beyond belief. A little of this will go a long way. Victor took a bite and immediately thought of adding it to baked beans. I went with a cheeseburger. But a couple slices of bread and some lettuce and tomato would work, too.

I’m wishing I had a pressure-canner because I’d love to make a lot and give it out as gifts – water bath would not work with this. Maybe I’ll have to speak with Santa.

In the meantime, grab the ingredients and make it. Tonight.

Here’s Katja’s recipe. I used regular Tabasco and added some smoked paprika.

Bacon “Jam”

• 1 lb. smoked bacon (or use regular bacon and add liquid smoke) **
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
• 3 T(ablespoons) brown sugar
• Tabasco sauce to taste **
• 1 c coffee
• 1/4 c apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 maple syrup (BUY THE GOOD STUFF)
• black pepper to taste
• extra water

In a non-stick pan, fry bacon in batches until beginning to brown and get crispy. Once cool, cut into 1″ or so pieces and set aside. In SOME of the rendered bacon fat, sautee onions and garlic until translucent. Transfer all of the onions and bacon to a heavy based pot or cast iron pot and all the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine; simmer over med-low heat for 2 hours. Every 25-30 mins, stir pot and add water (as needed). “Jam” should be thick and void of liquid when finished. Let cool for about 20 minutes. Using a food processor, pulse to desired texture. Serve almost any way you can think with bacon: on a burger or chicken burger, on a BLT, on any sandwich, really, etc.

** I used TJ’s bacon ends and pieces and chipotle Tabasco to add the smokiness

I really do see this as being a regular item in the ‘fridge.