Bacon Jam Gravy

Bacon jam is a fashionable thing to buy in a jar and a very easy thing to make in the bottom of a pan. Cook the bacon until it is properly dark, add sugar and vinegar, and you get a sticky base that becomes an extremely good gravy the moment stock hits it. It goes with turkey, roast chicken, a burger, or a plate of chips at midnight.

Ingredients

Makes about 500ml, enough for six plates

• 150g (5oz) smoked streaky bacon chopped into small pieces
• 2 onions sliced thin
• 2 cloves garlic sliced
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 550ml (19fl oz) hot chicken stock
• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard optional, adds Mustard as an allergen
• black pepper to taste

Kit

• Heavy frying pan or saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Balloon whisk

Method

1. Put the bacon into a cold heavy pan and set it over a medium heat. Starting cold renders the fat out properly. Cook for eight to ten minutes, stirring, until the pieces are dark and crisp and there is a good pool of fat in the pan.

2. Lift out about a third of the bacon with a slotted spoon and set it aside on kitchen paper, to go back in at the end for texture.

3. Add the onions to the remaining bacon and fat and turn the heat down. Cook for twelve to fifteen minutes, stirring regularly, until they are collapsed and deep gold. Add the garlic for the last minute.

4. Sprinkle over the sugar and pour in the vinegar. Let it bubble and reduce for two minutes, scraping the base, until the pan looks sticky and jammy rather than wet.

5. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute. There is bacon fat everywhere so it will take it easily, but keep scraping so nothing catches.

6. Add the hot stock a third at a time, whisking after each addition until smooth. Bring to a simmer and cook for eight minutes, until it thickens and the flavours settle together.

7. Taste before adding anything. Bacon and stock together are usually salty enough that no salt is needed at all. Grind in plenty of black pepper and stir in the mustard if you are using it.

8. Stir the reserved crisp bacon back in just before serving, or scatter it over the top so it stays crunchy for a minute or two.

Tips worth knowing

• Start the bacon in a cold pan. Thrown into hot fat it seizes, stays chewy and never renders properly, and rendered fat is what carries the flavour through the whole gravy.
• One tablespoon of sugar and two of vinegar is the balance. More sugar and it turns into a barbecue sauce, and more vinegar and it goes sour and thin.
• Do not salt this until the very end, and then probably not at all. Between bacon and stock you are already close to the limit.
• If you want it smooth, blend it and pass it through a sieve, then add the crisp bacon back. It makes a much more elegant gravy for a Christmas turkey.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps four days in the fridge and freezes for three months. The fat will set on top when it chills, which you can either stir back in or lift off if you want it leaner. Reheat gently with a splash of water and add fresh crisp bacon if you have it.

Questions people ask