Recycle your Christmas ham and easily turn it into bacon by giving it a quick fry in the frypan. It’s some of the best bacon you’ll ever have ๐งก ๐ฅฐ
Once your ham is opened, xmas is over and we’ve divided up the left overs amongst everyone – we got ham for dayssss. What do we do with it all? Well, luckily it makes some of the best bacon, trust me!
Every year I swear to myself, this is how I’m gonna have my bacon from now on, all year. And then I forget and end up returning to the strip or streaky bacon in the packet. Okay this is the year, ima get ham legs for bacon.
If you’ve ever been in a restaurant or someone’s house and ever had that most amazing bacon moment (if you eat it that is ๐ฌ), you might’ve experienced that turning point where you swore to yourself to cook it like that / buy that brand etc. Just coz it was sooo gud.
If you’re a Perth, Western Australia local, Mason & Bird in Kalamunda make some amazing bacon. It’s thick, textured and FLAME GRILLED ๐ I can hear the sizzle now .. and they put it on some solid sourdough. 10/10.
The strip bacon in the plastic packets in your local supermarket are vacuum packed, generally thin and pretty tasteless tbh. You might find an ok brand, or try some ham steaks or whatever. But trust me, they won’t win out on the leg ham -> bacon combo.
Your supermarket leg ham may have been brined, or salt cured where moisture is removed. (Head to your local deli or specialist supplier for higher quality.) It may have been smoked too which doesn’t help preservation, but adds depth of flavour. Lastly it is simmered and cooked, ready for serving hot or cold.
Let’s go HOT ๐ฅ
Slice your ham off the leg or whatever left overs you have. I like mine around 4mm or 1/8 inch or so.
Throw a tablespoon of butter into the frypan and melt it. Then add your ham slices, soon to be bacon!
Fry it up the way you like it. You’ll find that even though it’s thicker, it’ll cook quickly because essentially, it’s already cooked. I like mine slightly crisped, and crisp the fatty portions a little more.
Prep your toast, your home-made sourdough is great but anything will do. I half-butter before toasting and then finish with the remaining butter afterwards.
Throw on your HOT bacon. I add some kewpie mayonnaise, a little salt, lots of pepper and sometimes some citrus – lemon or yuzu zest to offset the oil. And surprisingly, fresh basil goes well with it too.
That’s it, so simple. You could make a full brekky out of it by adding cooked eggs, mushies and a small salad. Any extra baeconn or ham can go in the freezer.
TRY this bacon method. It’s yum, you’ll ditch the supermarket packets for good!
Drop a comment if you tried this or you’ve recycled your xmas ham in other ways, thanks.