Help with a recipe please - Potato, onion and bacon hotpot

room512

Just need some help please - I am making this recipe tonight -
Potato,onion and bacon hotpot - do I cook the bacon first? Thanks for any help - I am presuming I would cook it first so that it is crispy
________________________________________
This is one of the most delicious dishes I know. It is adapted from Jocasta Innes' Pauper's Cookbook.

2hrs cooking, serves 4-6

Slice a medium potato per person into thin slices(about 2mm thick)
Slice one large onion(or 2 small ones!)
Chop up some bacon or ham - 1 rasher per person is what I ususally use,but it depends on how much you can spare.

Make a basic white sauce,add cheese if you want(I do).
Sauce - melt a tbsp butter,add a tbsp flour cook until sandy in texture(a roux).Gradually stir in about half a pint of milk.Stir until thickens.

In a deep,greased oven-proof dish layer the potatoes,onion and bacon,season with pepper(no salt because of the bacon)
When you have put half the ingredients in,pour on half the sauce.
Continue with the layers,ending with potato.
Pour on the rest of the sauce.

Bake in the oven at 200c covered for 1 hour.Then take of the lid and bake for a further hour at 180c.

It's easy to increase/decrease quantities for this dish.The long cooking is the secret.
I serve it with carrots and a green veg.

fiscalfreckles

No, I wouldn't, as then it would probably be overcooked & hard by the end.

I don't think it will come out crispy though, long cooking will make the bacon soft.

If you want it crispy, I'd cook some separately & sitir it in at the end (but cook some in the main dish in the oven too to get the flavour)

Nanamia

I make a similar one pot delicious meal. Layering sliced potatoes, chopped onions, grated cheese, smoked bacon (raw) then start again, one more layer. Yum. Slow cooking definitely is the secret. Hth

dangers

No you don't cook the bacon first. We made it just after Christmas though, using some crumbs from our gammon joint. It was not as pauper-ish as it should have been! Totally scrummy.

Tillytrotter1

I make this exact recipe and I cook the bacon first so it is crisp. It doesn't harden through the cooking. A really lovely dish.

THIRZAH

I make this recipe too and don't cook the bacon beforehand. Two hours is plenty of time for the bacon to cook.

room512

OH is making it and has gone with the majority and is not cooking the bacon first! Thanks for everyone's help.


It was absolutely gorgeous. OH cooked it for 1hr40 mins on 180 and put cheese on the top for the last 15 mins.