Bacon Horseradish Spread

The boil continued. The week was the second week of full sap flow and the evaporator was running most of three days, the wood pile beside the sugarhouse diminishing visibly by the hour, the steam rising from the cupola in the way it has risen from this sugarhouse in every March of my life and in many Marches before that. I have come to think of the boiling weeks as a kind of secular Lent — the long days of attention, the singular focus on the pan, the surrender of the regular schedule of meals and reading and walking to the demands of a process that does not pause. The dog learned long ago to bring his concerns to me at the sugarhouse rather than the kitchen during these weeks, and he came down twice on Tuesday with the slightly aggrieved expression of a border collie whose grandfather has been neglecting their schedule.

I made the syrup grade B this week — the medium amber, the second-run color that develops as the sugar content of the sap shifts and the season progresses. The grade A from the first week is set aside for the kitchen and for the cases I will give to David and Sarah. The grade B is what most people actually prefer for cooking, the deeper flavor standing up better to recipes than the lighter early grade does. Three more gallons came off the pan Tuesday and Wednesday, packed hot into the canning jars, set on the cooling rack to seal. I will have eight or nine gallons total by the end of the season if it cooperates, which is enough to give away and enough to keep me through the next year and enough to send a quart to Bill in Connecticut and a quart to Phil at the Legion and a half pint to Carol because Helen would have wanted me to.

For supper Thursday I made a sausage and white bean stew — the kind of fast supper that fits into a boiling week, when the cook does not have hours to spend on the meal because he has been spending hours on the syrup. Italian sausage browned in the pan, the fat reserved, then onion and garlic in the fat, then a can of cannellini beans rinsed and a handful of chopped escarole and the broth and the rosemary, simmered for twenty minutes, finished with a drizzle of good olive oil and a heavy crack of pepper. The stew is what you eat when you have to eat in twenty minutes and you also want to eat well, and the trick is keeping the ingredients on hand at all times so the stew is always available when needed. I keep them on hand. The stew is always available.

Anna texted Friday. She had been thinking about coming up for a weekend in April, after the boil was over, to spend a few days at the farmhouse and walk the woods and read by the woodstove. I texted back: come whenever. Bring nothing. The room is ready. She replied with a thumbs-up emoji which I find graphically uninteresting but which I have come to understand is the contemporary equivalent of a nod, and the conversation was complete. Anna will come in April. The room — the upstairs guest room that was Sarah's when she was a girl — is always ready. It does not require preparation. It simply waits, the way I wait, the way the house waits, the way the family waits for whoever needs to come and stay for a while.

There is a principle I have come to live by in the kitchen, the same one that keeps the cannellini beans in the pantry and the rosemary on the shelf: certain things should always be available. The spread I make most often for that purpose — the one that appears when Anna arrives in April, when Phil stops by, when the boiling week ends and I want something worth sitting down to without the effort of cooking — is this bacon and horseradish spread. It requires almost nothing from me and returns something genuinely good, which is about the best ratio a working man can ask of a recipe.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish (drained)
6 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
3 green onions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Crackers, sliced baguette, or crudites for serving

Instructions

Cook the bacon. In a skillet over medium heat, cook bacon slices until deeply crisp, turning once, about 8–10 minutes total. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain and cool, then crumble into small pieces. Reserve 2 tablespoons of crumbled bacon for topping.
Mix the base. In a medium bowl, beat the softened cream cheese with a fork or hand mixer until smooth and lump-free. Add the sour cream and mix until fully incorporated.
Add the flavor. Stir in the horseradish, minced garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Taste and adjust horseradish to your preference — add more for a sharper bite.
Fold in the mix-ins. Gently fold in the crumbled bacon (all but the reserved 2 tablespoons) and most of the green onions, leaving a small handful for garnish.
Chill and garnish. Transfer the spread to a serving bowl. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors come together — or serve immediately if the week demands it. Top with the reserved bacon crumbles and remaining green onions before serving.
Serve. Set out with sturdy crackers, sliced baguette rounds, or cut vegetables. Keeps covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Bacon Horseradish Spread — Something Always Ready When the Work Is Done