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Missy...I just got off the phone with Jason Wilson. He asked how your project went...Got an update?
- Thread starter traca
- Start date
music-city-missy
Well-known member
I'll try to post pix - need to email the teacher and see but it went well...
I wound up baking the 'pie' as individual servings in those little Wilton spring form pans with just a bottom crust. The sides were so slick that the filling just formed a sort of chewy 'crust'. I had candied bacon about 1/2 and 1/2 with the pecans. Good balance I think - the smokiness of the bacon comes out in the finish more than on the first bite.
Made the candied bacon ice cream and it's addictive! I didn't put any alcohol in it since I had the Jack Daniels that I infused with bacon & bacon grease fo a couple of weeks to make a sort of hard sauce to plate with.
Then I made the toffee and broke a shard and stuck it in the top. I took Jason's tip and basically ground up some of the bacon to use as a fine powder in the crust and as a garnish on the plate.
I only have pix of the practice run (forgot the camera for the final) and I did a regular pie for that before settling on the indvidual serving. I need to make one the final way I made it and take a pix to show you all. Actually what I need to do is upgrade to a digital SLR camera and take some photography classes so the pictures turn out as good as they should.
Everywhere I go now people have heard about me and the candied bacon project. Took some to the ACF meeting the other night. It's famous at work to people I don't even know (we have around 3k employees and tonight at a dinner for the RMDH that I coordinated, they were coming up to me - I didn't even know these folks!)
The teacher wrote on the project submittal that I had been fun to work with and very creative and thinking outside the box. I have to say that out of 12 students that made it through the class, I felt very good in that mine were creative and not just a recipe I copied and made exactly per the recipe - I took parts and pieces and ideas of my own to create both of my desserts and mine could easily be served at upscale restaurants both taste and presentation wise.
It was frustrating to see someone bake a simple cake and cube it in a martini glass make a caramel sauce and creme anglaise, put bananas and whipped cream on it and call that a project. It was good but he was done in 45 minutes and it just wasn't "WOW". Actually, I wish I had pictures of some of them - they were atrocious.
I wound up baking the 'pie' as individual servings in those little Wilton spring form pans with just a bottom crust. The sides were so slick that the filling just formed a sort of chewy 'crust'. I had candied bacon about 1/2 and 1/2 with the pecans. Good balance I think - the smokiness of the bacon comes out in the finish more than on the first bite.
Made the candied bacon ice cream and it's addictive! I didn't put any alcohol in it since I had the Jack Daniels that I infused with bacon & bacon grease fo a couple of weeks to make a sort of hard sauce to plate with.
Then I made the toffee and broke a shard and stuck it in the top. I took Jason's tip and basically ground up some of the bacon to use as a fine powder in the crust and as a garnish on the plate.
I only have pix of the practice run (forgot the camera for the final) and I did a regular pie for that before settling on the indvidual serving. I need to make one the final way I made it and take a pix to show you all. Actually what I need to do is upgrade to a digital SLR camera and take some photography classes so the pictures turn out as good as they should.
Everywhere I go now people have heard about me and the candied bacon project. Took some to the ACF meeting the other night. It's famous at work to people I don't even know (we have around 3k employees and tonight at a dinner for the RMDH that I coordinated, they were coming up to me - I didn't even know these folks!)
The teacher wrote on the project submittal that I had been fun to work with and very creative and thinking outside the box. I have to say that out of 12 students that made it through the class, I felt very good in that mine were creative and not just a recipe I copied and made exactly per the recipe - I took parts and pieces and ideas of my own to create both of my desserts and mine could easily be served at upscale restaurants both taste and presentation wise.
It was frustrating to see someone bake a simple cake and cube it in a martini glass make a caramel sauce and creme anglaise, put bananas and whipped cream on it and call that a project. It was good but he was done in 45 minutes and it just wasn't "WOW". Actually, I wish I had pictures of some of them - they were atrocious.
heather_in_sf
Well-known member
I looove bacon!!! Missy, can you/would you explain how your infused the Jack Daniels?
this keeps popping up everywhere I go lately about bacon infused liquor and I'd like to know how you did it and how you liked it.
Your project sounds wonderful, congratulations!
this keeps popping up everywhere I go lately about bacon infused liquor and I'd like to know how you did it and how you liked it.
Your project sounds wonderful, congratulations!
music-city-missy
Well-known member
Here is what I did....
I heard that a chef ws showing Anthony Boudain how to do it and used bacon fat. Well, I didn't think that was good enough. I didn't want to do a whole bottle so I poured off some in a jar and fried up some bacon cut into quarters. I only needed 2 T for my recipe and made t a couple of times for testing. I put all the bacon fat (probably about 1/4 cup) in the jar along with one whole slice of bacon - 4 pieces. Then I poured in the Jack Daniels - 1/2-3/4 cup. Screwed the lid on and shook it up good. Ever few days I would shake it up - not sure if it made a difference or not but my thoughts were that the fat was separating so I my thought was if I shook it back up and mixed it from time to time, it would give it more chance to impart the flavor from the fat and would more evenly distribute it. I did that for about two weeks. Then when I was ready to use it, I pulled the bacon pieces out and put it in the fridge so the fat would harden on top and I could remove it. Then strain it and you are ready to go.
The flavor was not as strong as I might have thought. I mainly got some of the saltiness and a smokier than normal finish. It came out a little more in the sauce than the whiskey itself.
It just depends on the particular alcohol as to how much of the flavor it takes. I bet that vodka would take on the flavor much more than the bourbon. And of course, JD is already aged in charred barrels which gives it some smokiness to start with.
I heard that a chef ws showing Anthony Boudain how to do it and used bacon fat. Well, I didn't think that was good enough. I didn't want to do a whole bottle so I poured off some in a jar and fried up some bacon cut into quarters. I only needed 2 T for my recipe and made t a couple of times for testing. I put all the bacon fat (probably about 1/4 cup) in the jar along with one whole slice of bacon - 4 pieces. Then I poured in the Jack Daniels - 1/2-3/4 cup. Screwed the lid on and shook it up good. Ever few days I would shake it up - not sure if it made a difference or not but my thoughts were that the fat was separating so I my thought was if I shook it back up and mixed it from time to time, it would give it more chance to impart the flavor from the fat and would more evenly distribute it. I did that for about two weeks. Then when I was ready to use it, I pulled the bacon pieces out and put it in the fridge so the fat would harden on top and I could remove it. Then strain it and you are ready to go.
The flavor was not as strong as I might have thought. I mainly got some of the saltiness and a smokier than normal finish. It came out a little more in the sauce than the whiskey itself.
It just depends on the particular alcohol as to how much of the flavor it takes. I bet that vodka would take on the flavor much more than the bourbon. And of course, JD is already aged in charred barrels which gives it some smokiness to start with.
Interesting...I think shaking it is a good thing. I make my own cordials and they too
direct you to shake it up.
Not that you'd want to burn off the alcohol, but I wonder if the flavor would have imparted stronger if you heated it up a bit, then put the bacon & fat in there? Like when you infuse a cream or a milk base, you heat it up.
Also, as I found when I was making bacon toffee and the bacon ice cream, the bacon matters. You want an assertive, big flavored bacon. I recently got a double-smoked bacon from Jensen's smokehouse and it's amazing what a difference it makes.
direct you to shake it up.
Not that you'd want to burn off the alcohol, but I wonder if the flavor would have imparted stronger if you heated it up a bit, then put the bacon & fat in there? Like when you infuse a cream or a milk base, you heat it up.
Also, as I found when I was making bacon toffee and the bacon ice cream, the bacon matters. You want an assertive, big flavored bacon. I recently got a double-smoked bacon from Jensen's smokehouse and it's amazing what a difference it makes.
heather_in_sf
Well-known member
Thanks Missy! This sounds great - I may try both vodka and bourbon....
a fun post Christmas project...... BevMo, here I come!
a fun post Christmas project...... BevMo, here I come!
music-city-missy
Well-known member
Jensen's - is that a mail order source or local? You know I love trying bacons.