Submitted by Jodi Taffel

About the cook: Completely self taught, Jodi is a multiple award winning contest cook. She won the 2015 Gilroy Garlic Festival and blew away the judges on Guy’s Grocery Games with her Baconny take on Shakshuka, a traditional Israeli hangover breakfast. She followed that up with a Bacon “Steak” and molecular faux-viar to clinch 1st place at the California Strawberry Festival, & ended that year combining bacon and Nutter Butter Cookies to win The Nabisco/NASCAR Hungry For Speed Recipe Contest. Other contesting highlights include winning the The Last Ever Grilled Cheese Invitational by besting all the 1st place winners from the 12 year life of the competition, beating 7,327 other entries in the Westminster Cheddar Recipe Competition, and taking out 12 professional chefs in a full day of mystery basket competitions to win the 2017 California BaconFest.

About the dish: Tasked with trying to add my favorite pork product to a decadent dessert, I spent days and days coming up with the perfect bacon marmalade to top what was already regarded as a family favorite. Addictive is the word all my friends use whenever I bring these treats to a party.

National Origin: American

Serves: 12

Estimated Time: Over 2 Hours

Ingredients:

For Chocolate Espresso Pot De Crème:
1 packet gelatin
2 tablespoons cold water
2 cups (1 lb, or 4 bars) dark chocolate w/sea salt
1 cup whole milk
4 tbl sugar
2 tbl espresso powder
6 egg whites

For Balsamic Bacon Marmalade:
4 packages bacon
2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup bourbon
1 cup maple syrup
1 cup brown sugar
8 tbl balsamic vinegar

For Pecan Bacon Tuilles:
1 pound bacon
1 ½ cup pecans, finely chopped
1 teaspoon bacon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup cane sugar
1 extra large egg, room temperature

For Bacon Infused Chantilly Cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 tablespoon bacon flavored syrup

Garnishes:
12 Chocolate Tulip Cups (or you can use 12 clear glass, 6 ounce, compote dishes)
12 fresh Mint Leaves
12 Fresh Raspberries
1/4 cup Chocolate Crisppearls (optional)
1/4 cup Raspberry Coulis (store bought and again, optional)

Preparation:

*The dish only takes about 45 minutes to make. But it needs to sit in the freezer for about 2 hours or the fridge overnight to achieve the right texture.

For Chocolate Espresso Pot De Crème:
Place gelatin in water and stir. Allow to bloom 5 minutes.
Melt chocolate in microwave in a glass bowl.
Heat milk, sugar & espresso powder until sugar melts.
Pour milk mix into chocolate and whisk to combine.
Add to blender for 3-5 minutes to cool off a bit.
Add egg whites and blend 3-5 minutes.
Microwave gelatin 10 seconds, then add to blender. Blend 10 seconds.
Pour chocolate mixture thru fine mesh strainer to remove any cooked egg white.
Freeze 30-45 minutes.

For Balsamic Bacon Marmalade:
Cook bacon until almost crisp
While bacon is cooking, chop pecans finely. Add pecans, brown sugar, bourbon, maple syrup and balsamic to a bowl.
Drain off all but 2 tbl bacon fat.
Add contents of bowl to pan and reduce to jam consistency.
Chop bacon finely and add to marmalade.

For Pecan Bacon Tuilles:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Roughly chop bacon and cook in a skillet set over medium heat until crunchy.
Transfer bacon to a paper towel lined platter. When cool enough to touch, chop finely.
Place half of the pecans in a spice grinder and grind until the consistency of polenta. (a little coarser than flour)
Transfer pecan meal to a bowl with the chopped pecans, chopped bacon, salt, baking soda and nutmeg, and mix to combine. ***Save 1 teaspoon of bacon and pecans for garnish***
In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light in color and fluffy.
Add the egg to the mixer and beat to incorporate.
Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and beat until well incorporated.
Place batter onto a silicone baking sheet set on a sheet pan and smooth to the edges of the pan.
Bake 10-12 minutes, or until nicely browned.
Place in freezer 10 minutes to cool.

For Bacon Infused Chantilly Cream:
Add all both ingredients to stand mixer and mix until stiff peaks form.
Transfer to a piping bag with a star tip and set in fridge until needed.

TO ASSEMBLE:
Spoon or pour mousse into tulip cups. Place back in freezer and allow to set up until firm.
Spoon bacon marmalade over the top of the mousse.
Pipe bacon infused chantilly cream over the marmalade.
Garnish with 1 mint leaf on chantilly cream, 1 raspberry on the mint leaf (with the leaf sticking out), some chocolate crisp pearls, and 1 shard of tuille. Place 3 large dots of raspberry coulis on the plate in front of the tulip cup.

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