The bacon craze has resulted in many pork-infused disasters–ice creams, air fresheners–so we were skeptical when Virginia Lamb & Meats’ bacon jam ($8) appeared at the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market. But after sampling the bourbon-colored spread,which has echoes of maple syrup, we’re hooked.
Virginia Lamb owners Corey and Janet Childs aren’t jumping on a current trend but mining an old one. “Potting,” or slow-cooking meat with a good deal of fat, is a tradition. For the jam, bacon is smoked from the hogs raised by the couple’s 14-year-old son, then braised. Spread it on toast for a double BLT or grilled cheese, mix it into a steak marinade, or slather it on pancakes. However you use it, this is one product that will survive the bacon boom.
This article appears in the March 2012 issue of The Washingtonian.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
