recipe notes
step-by-step method
recipe card
Every year there’s a glorious event in Chicago called Bacon Fest, celebrating – you guessed it – that special cured meat that has long held the ultimate love and affection of carnivorous eaters far and wide: bacon. This year I was fortunate enough to participate in the festivities as a contributing chef, and the bacon pop tart, or what I’ve dubbed the Kelhog’s Pork Tart*, was my contribution. *Not to be confused of course with Kellogg’s Pop Tarts. That would be crazy.
Here’s the thing, I’m so totally over bacon in desserts.
note to all pastry chefs everywhere: let the maple-bacon combo die. It belongs on the shelf with molten chocolate cake and desserts served in martini glasses. This 100% includes the maple bacon donut. Sorry not sorry, it was never that good in the first place. And for the love of God stop putting chunks of bacon in ice cream. It is gross.
Generally just give me bacon next to some eggs and hash browns or on a burger and I’m a happy camper. To me that’s how bacon was born to live. It’s not that I’m denying the amazing combo of sweet and salty and meaty that bacon and a little sugar creates, but bacon desserts are by and large executed terribly. The biggest issue is that cold bacon isn’t very appetizing in flavor or texture, and outside of the controlled restaurant environment where you can guarantee serving your bacon hot (even though for some reason that’s hardly ever done) it’s hard to create a dessert that can handle the cold bacon dilemma.
Breaking the bad-bacon-dessert mold is what drove me to create what I affectionately call my pork tart. Bacon jam, a long time love of mine, is one of the rare exceptions where bacon shines even in its semi-gelatinous room temperature state, so I knew I was going to build a treat around the jam. Not too hard to make the leap into a hand pie vessel to hold said jam. Tack on a sharp, nutty cheese like Asiago or Gruyere and then because I do love bacon + sugar top it all with a honey glaze. F*ck yes.
recipe notes
Embarking on this quest is going to leave you smelling like bacon. The jam in particular is some seriously strong stuff. That is either a positive or a negative depending on your personal preferences, but I actually use latex gloves through many steps of the process. Call me crazy, but I just don’t like smelling like BBQ when I’m trying to fall asleep at the end of the day.
Get good bacon. Yes, it makes a huge difference. Pick up that Oscar Mayer crap and I’ll jump out of the yogurt shelf behind you and smack you in the head. I’m a big fan of Nueske’s bacon but there are hundreds of artisan brands all over the country that are worth using. Better yet, make your own! Once you’ve got the good stuff, treat it well. Keep the bacon as cold as possible while you cut it, not only because it will be easier to handle and cut but because it will keep the fat intact which will mean it ends up in the jam and not on your cutting board.
The bacon fat dough is kind of an odd duck. Because bacon fat has a very low melt point, the dough gets soft very quickly and yet has some flexibility and strength to it making it not quite as delicate as you might think. Still though, keep the dough very cold throughout the rolling/cutting/building process. If you’d rather use butter instead of bacon fat, you can do that too.
bacon pork tarts
bacon jam
The bacon jam is really a whole other recipe, so check that out here.
pork tart crust
317g all purpose flour
13g sugar
5g salt
190g bacon fat
50g whole eggs
67g whole milk
Combine all of the dry ingredients in a stand mixing bowl and chill them for 10 to 15 minutes in the fridge.
Break your bacon fat down into smallish chunks and chill it in the freezer for around 10 minutes.
Combine the eggs and milk and whisk it together until fully combined.
Mix the bacon fat into the chilled dry ingredients using a paddle attachment until the dough forms coarse crumbs.
Close, but there are still a few pads of larger bacon fat that have to break down.
Perfect!
Add the egg mixture and mix until the dough combines.
Rest the dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
Before rolling, place the dough in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes to get it nice and cold.
Roll the dough out to 1/8”/3mm thick and then cut into rectangles. The size is up to you, I usually make mine 2.5” x 4.5”/6cm x 11cm.
At this point I transfer the pieces of dough to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. This will allow easy re-chilling if the dough gets too warm and the parchment paper will keep the dough from sticking. Using a hamburger-style offset spatula works beautifully for this.
Pair up the rectangles of dough – two per pork tart – and pipe the bacon jam into the center of one piece of dough in each pair. Leave about ½”/1.2cm clear space around the dough.
Brush a simple egg wash (about 15g of milk for every 1 egg plus a dash of salt) around the clear edge of dough to act as a glue.
Place the second piece of dough over the jam and from the outside edge working in create a seal between the two halves of dough. Gradually press the dough around the sealed edge down firmly. I like to leave one edge open so that as I seal the dough I can press out any air pockets. After the three sides are sealed and any excess air is pressed out, go ahead and seal the fourth edge.
Trim the edge with a paring knife to clean it up.
Brush the tarts with egg wash and then dock them with a fork or toothpick.
Top the tarts with grated cheese and you’re ready to bake!
Bake: convection; 360F; for approximately 25min.
Holy mother of pork.
honey scone glaze
36g honey
25g water
170g powdered sugar
So simple, just whisk all three ingredients together.
Transfer the glaze to a piping bag and stripe the baked pork tarts.
And there you have it, Chef Scott’s Pork Tart. Let me be clear, there is nothing healthy about these in any way, shape or form, and that’s exactly how it should be.
Bake (and eat) hard DFK nation!
- 317 g All-purpose flour
- 13 g sugar
- 5 g salt
- 190 g bacon fat
- 50 g whole eggs
- 67 g whole milk
- 36 g honey
- 25 g water
- 170 g powdered sugar
- Combine the dry ingredients in a stand mixing bowl and chill for 10 to 15 minutes in the cooler.
- Break down the chilled bacon fat into walnut-sized piece and freeze for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Combine the whole eggs and whole milk and whisk until homogenized.
- Cut the cold bacon fat into the dry ingredients and mix in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until the dough forms coarse crumbs.
- Add the whole milk mixture and mix until the dough comes together.
- Chill the dough for a minimum of 1hr up to overnight.
- Roll the dough to 1/8" (3mm) and cut into 2.5” x 4.5” (6cm x 11cm) rectangles.
- Pair two rectangles of dough for each tart and pipe bacon jam on one half of each pair leaving 1/2" (1.2cm) of clear space around the edge of the dough.
- Brush the edge of dough with egg wash.
- Place the second piece of dough over the bacon jam and from the outside edge working in create a seal between the two halves of dough. Gradually press the dough around the sealed edge down firmly.
- Trim the edges with a paring knife.
- Brush the sealed tarts with egg wash and dock the top half.
- Top the tarts with cheese before baking.
- Bake: convection oven; 182C/360F; 20-25min.
- Combine all ingredients and mix until homogenized.
- Transfer the glaze to a piping bag and stripe the pork tarts.
The dough has to taste delicous!
Blending salty and sweet is an amazing idea.
As always, many thanks.
Cheers
Thanks! I think they’re pretty good 🙂