(Erin) Now that you have a million tomatoes, what can you do with them that isn’t a BLT, salsa, or caprese salad? Tomato bacon jam, of course! After reviewing several recipes, we ended up with this one. It requires far less sugar and weird ingredients than some others and seems like a simple enough procedure. You
might be hesitant about this recipe. But just go with it, you’ll see.
(Erin) I didn’t have all the spices listed so I made a few substitutions. First, the smoked paprika…I didn’t have any paprika, so my first thought was cumin. Cumin has an earthy, smoky flavor. But alas, I was out of that as well. So I used chili powder instead, which contains cumin. Next, the ground mustard. I used a bit of ground ginger (fresh would work too) to give that bite the mustard would have offered. Both of these substitutions worked out well! I also only used 12 oz. of bacon, since that was the size of the package and used closer to 2 lbs of tomatoes.
After the one hour of simmering, my jam was still pretty runny so I let it continue for another hour or so until it was the consistency I liked. Man oh man is this stuff tasty! It is sweet, salty, smoky, spicy, and bacon-y. I ate it on top of baked chicken with a side of roasted broccoli. Yum. But would also be good just to eat with crackers and cheese…or a spoon.
(Susan) For once, I actually followed a recipe exactly, with no variations at all! I’ve never made jam, let alone tomato jam, so I thought it a good idea to play nice and follow the rules.
There’s a breakfast/brunch place downtown, Rooster Cafe, that serves tomato jam with egg dishes, and it is sublime: spicy, smokey, tart, and sweet all at once. Every time I go I try to figure out how it is made, and what are the ingredients. I think this recipe comes pretty close. The bacon adds salt to the flavor profile, a welcome addition I think. And you know the saying about bacon…
Just started simmering and it smells divine already!
After simmering an hour – look how much it has reduced!
Anyway, this jam is like summer and comfort all rolled into one amazing bite. It would be delicious on crackers, a grilled cheese sandwich, chicken, pork, all by itself.
(Note: This stuff has quite a kick! If you don’t care for really spicy food, think about cutting the red pepper flakes from 1/2 tsp to 1/4 tsp, or even just a dash.)
All these for only $3!
Logan is unable to join our post this week 😦 but in place of his contribution, a little more about tomatoes!! I’m sure after reading last week’s post you were eager to check out your farmers’ market this week, or at least I hope so. Something you may or may not have noticed were “seconds” tomatoes. A lot of farmers will bring their “seconds”, or ugly produce, to the market and sell for a bit cheaper. I’ve seen these as cheap as $0.50/lb and as much as $2.50/lb. Seconds tomatoes are sometimes misshapen, unevenly colored, have cracked skin or soft spots. Basically they’re less than perfect, but not worth tossing. While maybe not great for a fancy dinner party, these still have wonderful flavor and are perfect for canning and recipes like this where appearance doesn’t matter. And you’ll save a couple bucks! Especially towards the end of tomato season you’ll see these popping up. Ask the farmers if you don’t see any advertised.
How did you use your jam? Let us know in the comments! -CT/MA
Cooking Together, Miles Apart 