Bacon Salt

I’ve been intrigued by the idea of making flavoured salts since I saw a recipe for ham salt in Comfort & Spice. But when I saw this link for a recipe for Bacon Salt on Pinterest, I knew I had to give it a try. I had a packet of Maldon Smoked Sea Salt Flakes in the cupboard that I hadn’t opened so I used them here, thinking that they would complement the bacon. It worked beautifully. You can use ordinary salt, but this just adds another layer of flavour.  You could use a food processor to crumble the bacon and combine to the salt but I used a pestle and mortar, mainly to have less washing up and also to have a chunkier texture.

It doesn’t taste overly bacony (I know, if you know of a better word I’d love to hear) but is more of a smoky seasoning. Use over poached or fried eggs for an easy breakfast. You could use it in place of regular salt for seasoning vegetables, soups, stews etc.. I’ve also read that it’s a good seasoning for popcorn. Remember that it is salt, go easy when you are using it. You can always add more but use too much and you might ruin a whole dish.

Makes 1 small jar.

Ingredients:

• 200g streaky bacon, approx. 10 pieces
• 50g smoked sea salt flakes
• 40g ordinary table salt
• ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Method:

• Preheat your oven to 190C/170C fan/gas mark 5
• Lay out the bacon on a wire rack over a roasting dish and cook in the oven for about 30 mins. You want the bacon overdone but not quite burnt.
• Allow the  bacon to cool on paper towels to soak up as much fat as possible.
• Break the cooled bacon into the pieces and crush with a pestle and mortar.
• Add the salt and pepper and continue to grind until it is well combined and the mixtures resembles chunky sand.
• Store in a jar in the fridge.