Everything IS better with bacon.....

I watch alot of cooking shows--Food Network, PBS, Fine Living Network--all of 'em. But I really am enjoying Top Chef on the Bravo Network these days. I like everything about the show from top to bottom. I like the host Padma Lakshmi. She is the perfect combination of beauty, class and seems to know her food. She's not there just to 'pretty things up', like most female hosts. She does wear some stunning outfits though! Her co-host and fellow-judge, Tom Colicchio is a very well known chef himself and is a quite the intimidator, I think. He doesn't take any guff, that's for sure.

This season on Top Chef: Las Vegas, Kevin Gillespie is my favorite contestant so far because his cooking style and mine are somewhat similar. Southern, but refined. Kevin cooked his way into immunity last week with a snail dish that included a 'bacon jam' on the side. All of the chefs were cooking for judge Tom Colicchio and this big fancy, schmancy French chef extraordinaire & restauranteur--hence the snails. While every one else tried to impress these two with their take on French dishes, Kevin stayed with what he knows best--southern food. I loved watching the French chef and Tom rave about Kevins' Bacon Jam. And bacon won!!!! And why not?? We alllllll know---even the fancy, schmancy French guy knows---everything IS better with bacon! Even snails.

I have to say I've made lots of jams--fruit and veggie based, but not a bacon jam. Until now! I found the recipe for Kevin's Bacon Jam on-line. If you make it before I get the chance, let me know how you like it. I translated a couple of the french cooking terms for us commoners. = )

Bacon Jam
(Kevin Gillespie from Top Chef: Las Vegas)

• 1 cup bacon, cut into 2” X 1” X 1/2” pieces
• ¼ cup yellow onions, julienned
• 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon butter, unsalted

1. Render bacon in a heavy sauté pan in hot 500-degree F oven until bacon is crispy.
2. Pull from oven and remove bacon. Cook julienned onions in the remaining bacon fat, scraping the bits from the bottom of the pan until onions are dark golden.
3. Add brown sugar and stir to coat.
4. Add a third of the chicken stock and place pan back in the oven to simmer. Reduce mixture until thick, almost au sec (almost dry) (approx 5-15 minutes). Watch carefully that it doesn’t burn.
5. Add half of the remaining stock and reduce again until thick.
6. Add all of the remaining stock and remove pan from the oven. Season with salt, pepper, and espelette (hot paprika) to taste.
7. Pour contents into a blender and puree until fairly smooth.
8. Pour contents back into sauté pan and stir in honey to combine.
9. Put pan back into oven and cook stirring frequently until deep brick red color is reached.
10. Re-season and mount with butter (add small chunks of unsalted butter and whisk in). Allow to cool to warm temperature. Reserve.