Food Preservation

Comment

Comment by Pat Johnson on June 15, 2011 at 8:41am

Pat to earth, Pat to earth. I like to push the envelope Harriet and thought exactly the same thing when I heard about "Bacon Jam". Then I thought, what the heck, lets see what it tastes like. My mother used to make a kind of BBQ sloppy joe sandwich from canned corned beef, ketchup and brown sugar. Sounds kinda gross but it was sweet & yummy and the bacon jam remided me a lot of it. I posted a picture of it cooking down on my profile Christine.

Comment by Harriet Fasenfest on June 15, 2011 at 1:58am

Bacon Jam - Could two words be less compatible?  Well, they're making bacon ice cream these days so what you gonna do?  I'll just stick with fruit and wait till the world returns to sanity.  Whether our leader ever makes it back, well, that is another story. Personally, I'm not holding my breath.   

Christine, so happy it all came out good and you are very welcomed.  

Comment by Christene on June 14, 2011 at 8:28pm

Pat can you post a picture I am curious about this.  Also I made 6 jars of strawberry jam using Harriet's method and it set up beautifully. I will try to post a picture later.  I have to say I also used a jar of chicken in chicken fried rice and the family loved it.  Going to try raw pack.  Thank you to you and Harriet for the encouragement and pushing.  I am better canner for it.

Comment by Pat Johnson on June 14, 2011 at 7:01pm

I made Bacon Jam today! I gotta tell you it's really good! I sure hope the chicks in the hen house don't find out about me dealing in nitrates again!

 

Bacon Jam
1 pound smoked bacon (or use regular bacon and liquid smoke)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium brown onion sliced
3 tablespoons brown sugar
Tabasco sauce (according to taste)
1 cup coffee
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
Black pepper to taste
extra water
1. In a non stick pan, fry the bacon in batches until lightly browned and beginning to crisp. Using a pair of scissors cut into 1 inch pieces.
2. Fry the onion and garlic in the rendered bacon fat on medium heat until translucent.
3. Transfer the bacon, onion and garlic into a heavy based cast iron pot and add the rest of the ingredients except for the water. Simmer for 2 hours adding 1/4 of a cup of water every 25-30 minutes or so and stirring
4. When ready, cool for about 15-20 minutes and then place in a food processor. Pulse for 2-3 seconds so that you leave some texture to the "jam" or of course you could keep whizzing and make it a smoother and more paste like.

Comment by Cornelia on June 14, 2011 at 3:43pm

Oh Harriet, you're not dense at all - you're all about the forward motion and no one's gonna stop you! Christine, I can start the discussion and paste some of the comments in there - anyone can, actually. Hang tight. I'll get to it by the end of the week. Gah! Where does the time go??

It will be nice to be able to reference this stuff in a search!

Comment by Harriet Fasenfest on June 14, 2011 at 10:47am

Christine, I am too dense to know how to move that conversation over to its own discussion but if anyone else does that would be fine.  I'm happy to answer questions as they come up.  I've also been speaking to Linda Ziedrich on the subject of natural pectin in fruit.  Like, at what temperature does it loose its gelling properties.  What is the relationship of pectin to sugar.   Actually, there is a treasure trove of information about pectin in fruit in really old cooking manuals and I have been mining them to make sense of all of this.  It is not difficult but lost to popular culture.  But the fact remains that only in a very few circumstances do you ever need to use boxed pectin.  Again, if anyone can move those conversations that would be fine and I would be up for answering questions.

Comment by Christene on June 13, 2011 at 1:35pm

is there a way then to move Harriet's and Pat's discussion on jam too or should it start over?

Comment by Pat Johnson on June 13, 2011 at 10:08am

OK Cornelia, you're right and I will try to put subjects line meat canning into a seperate discussion. Karen, look under the new discussion "Cannning Meat" for the answer to your quiestion.

Comment by Cornelia on June 13, 2011 at 9:59am

I know that many of us are loving the banter back and forth here - thanks Pat and Harriet for the chuckles. If there are specific topics that folks would like to learn more about and discuss (like canning meat, pectin-making, etc), may I suggest starting a discussion in this group instead? Each member (unless they've already opted out) gets an email with each comment, and I don't want to overwhelm folks with it. You can always subscribe to comments in each of the discussions as well.

In related news, there is an option to receive daily or weekly digests of activity here on Homegrown, and I'll be putting together a how-to on that soon. Enjoy!

Comment by Karen Cunningham on June 13, 2011 at 9:53am

Pat (& All):  What do you do to your chicken after you've canned it?  DD love chicken, but she doesn't like it moist or "slimey."  She likes it with a little crunch (dipped in egg, then parmesan and breadcrums, lightly browned in a skillet, then in the oven) or barbecued on the grill.  Can something like that be done with the canned chicken, or is canned just for stuff like chicken salad or in a casserole?  Thanks!

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