Seattle chef Josh Henderson brings his bacon spread to Toronto, and unlike a lot of new bacon-themed products, this one actually tastes good.
For the past year or so there has been an onslaught of everything bacon-infused: Baconnaise, bacon cupcakes, “Bakon Vodka“, bacon gum and this tube of bacon toothpaste that’s currently collecting dust at The Grid office. The latest creation comes from Seattle, where chef Josh Henderson of Skillet Street Food came up with a bacon spread to compliment the burgers he was serving out of his food truck in 2007. Unlike some of the aforementioned products, this one actually tastes good and contains real bacon (Henderson says it’s 70 per cent bacon, the other 30 per cent is ingredients like onion, balsamic vinegar and pepper).
Earlier this week at a media event at the All The Best Fine Foods grocery store in Summerhill, the first Canadian stop for Henderson to promote the bacon jam that’s now available in the country, a few other chefs were rounded up to cook with the spread.
On the high end, Colborne Lane and Origin‘s Claudio Aprile stuffed dumplings with the jam and poured a Jerusalem artichoke soup over it before garnishing it with smoked roe and pickled garlic scrapes. Cava‘s Chris McDonald fried up croquettes containing blue haze cheese and the jam while Porchetta and Co.‘s Nick auf de Mauer went lowbrow with porchetta, aged white cheddar and bacon jam sandwiched between two slices of Dempster’s (he couldn’t get Wonderbread).
At $20 a jar it’s not cheap eats (President’s Choice is coming out with a bacon marmalade for $4.99 in October) but one jar will last a while because not a lot is needed to taste the bacon. Also, the jam is best enjoyed in small doses. We did a taste test at The Grid office and while some were hesitant at the idea of bacon jam (it’s more like a rilette) others liked the deep, smokey and sweet flavour (the bacon taste is really strong).
“We never meant to be a niche and make a kitschy product,” says Henderson while frying up mini sliders topped with the jam. “I don’t want it to be in the same category of bacon lipstick, or whatever. It’s great that people have interest about those other bacon products but they’re a fad that will go away and hopefully we will last.”
And since Toronto is currently obsessed with all things street eats, we had to ask Henderson why so many people go nuts over buying lunch from a truck as opposed to a fully functioning restaurant. “Food tastes different on asphalt because your sensory expectations are lower,” he says. “If you promise low and deliver high you have an opportunity to wow.
“When we first started, the food truck scene was very similar to here in that there was a lot of red tape. Eventually the policy changed and we have a great community now. The public loves food trucks but you need people doing it to push policies.”
