I have been wanting to make this for years (knew about it from the ol' place) but never got around to it. Yesterday was my inaugural batch. Lot of prep work m' man, but it was so worth it!
Browning the bacon in a 7.5 qt Creuset
Used a new Dalstrong pairing knife to prep the veggies. Got
this set for Christmas and man it is wicked. I am normally a Henckel guy but may be a full convert. I have an oyster knife from them also and it is tits. Who's not a kitchen knife junkie?
Here's everything in the 7.5 qt pot. Uh-oh, that's not going to work out - I haven't even added the water/stock yet.
Switched over to a 5 gallon brew pot to give some headspace. But oh no, I will lose all the beautiful bacon fond...What to do? Oh, I know, I haven't added the chicken broth yet. Let's use that to deglaze the Creuset
cooked it down for a little less than the recommended 2.5 hours - did about the last 45 minutes without the lid to drive it down further. Light stirring occasionally to break up the potato a little. I was surprised how much it thickened up right at the end. I got some scorching on the bottom of the stainless brew pot but that is because it was not intended for this; maybe a reason to buy a bigger Creuset.
And, it wasn't quite spicy enough for me so a little Sriracha topped it off. Awesome recipe and I am going to freeze a bunch. If you haven't, you have to. The recipe is fool proof - I didn't measure out any of the spices/seasonings but I rarely do when cooking (baking is a whole different animal).