Bacon Connoisseur Class

making bacon fudge foodie laura
While waiting for the fudge to get up to temperature
I enjoyed a cheeky bacon bloody Mary 

I had a fabulous night on Friday at a bacon cooking class which was run by Niamh of Eat Like A Girl .
We won the tickets in a competition run by Huffington post, the classes were held to celebrate Bacon Connoisseur Week.

The intimate venue was Food At 52 which is a kooki homely place, we made four bacon dishes whilst sipping bacon bloody marys then tucked into a bacon curry that Niamh had made.
There were just 11 of us in the class and there was a lovely laid back atmosphere as we chatted over our bacon dishes. I had pictured something like a sterile school home economics lab but this class was casual and fun and not the least bit pretentious.

Eat Like A Girl Bacon Masterclass

Candied bacon was a winner for me, crispy and sweet with a satisfying crunch, why have I not candied bacon before and what other meat should I be candying?
We've never made fudge so were thrilled when Niahm deemed ours "textbook" fudge. It was smooth and crumbly like sugar tablet, I'm  not too sure about adding bacon to it, the smokey chipotle was lovely but the crispy bacon rind didn't seem as alluring when it was cold and softened back at home.

bacon jam from eat like a girl masterclass
Our sticky bacon jam bubbled away for nearly an hour
The bacon chipotle jam was amazing though and we enjoyed it on pancakes on at home on Saturday morning. We left with 3 boxes of our creations and leftover curry too.

bacon jam pancakes
The jam was perfect the next day with these fluffy pancakes


skimmed bacon fat
We skimmed some of the
fat from the cooled jam
and fried the pancakes in it
All the bacon we used was from the Ludlow Food Centre.  Ludlow  is just a short jolly from here so we will definetely be picking up more bacon from them.

The highlight for me was getting to meet Niamh in person as I'm a big fan of her blog. The class ran over by more than an hour so we got bonus time to soak up her stories and tips. Did you know when looking for a quality bacon it should have an even thickness of fat and very little shrinkage when cooked?

I'll be looking at bacon in a new light from now on and would highly recommend a class if you get the opportunity.