"This is a peanut butter and bacon sandwich," I said, and it was clear Caitlin was not enthused. "But not really."

The bacon:

Pork belly cured with curing salt, regular salt, a little sugar - your basic bacon cure - and The Spice House's Baharat seasoning, the ingredients of which they list as "Tellicherry black pepper, coriander, cumin, Ceylon select cloves, Saigon cinnamon, cardamom, Spanish paprika and Chinese Tien Tsin chile peppers." After curing for a week, it was simmered for an hour and a half, cooled in the simmering liquid, cut into bite-size pieces and popped into the oven until they crisped up.

So there's no smoke in the bacon element, and the spice profile is completely different.

The peanut butter:

Regular peanuts simmered until as soft as cooked beans, then smoked (along with the stock, so they don't dry out) for a few hours. It's possible they could have been simmered in the smoker had I originally planned to smoke them, but they'd take much longer, I suspect.

The smoked peanuts were then pureed with a couple peppadews and a little melted butter, until the consistency of hummus.

The sandwich:

A straight-out-of-the-oven baguette slit open, spread on both sides of the interior with the smoked peanut puree, and filled with chunks of pork belly and freshly fried and salted French fries.

I'm telling you, it worked. It was awesome.

This is my last week of unbridled meat eating before Lent. What am I farewelling to the flesh with? Fried chicken and oxtail/kimchi tacos, I think.