Lecho with Bacon
Hungarian lecho normally rests on three things — peppers, tomatoes, onion — but this version deliberately overrides that: smoked bacon, eggplant, carrot, and leek turn the familiar jar into something thicker and smokier. The trick is in the order of operations. You render the bacon first and fry everything in its fat, so the salty-smoky character runs through the whole batch rather than sitting on top.
Long, low stewing (a full 40 minutes) breaks the vegetables down into a soft, spoonable relish. Salt only at the end and in small amounts — the bacon is already salty, and reducing concentrates it further. If large eggplants taste bitter, salt the diced pieces first and let them weep for 20 minutes before they hit the pan.
Substitutions and storage
Smoked pork belly stands in for bacon; for a meat-free jar, skip it and stir in half a teaspoon of smoked paprika to keep the smoke. Spoon the lecho into sterilized jars while it’s still hot and seal immediately — this is what makes it keep. Store it somewhere cool and dark, and refrigerate once opened. It’s good on toast or alongside roast pork.
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Ingredients
Instructions
Wash the vegetables well and remove the seeds and stems from the peppers. Peel the carrot and garlic. Rinse the leek thoroughly to remove any grit. Dice the peppers, eggplant, carrot, tomatoes, and bacon. Finely chop the tomatoes in their own juice along with the garlic and leek.
Set a deep sauté pan or pot over high heat and let it get hot. Pour in the vegetable oil and sauté the diced vegetables with the bacon for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes with the garlic and leek, the salt, sugar, and pepper, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, and simmer for 40 minutes. Spoon the finished lecho into sterilized jars and set it aside to store in a cool place.
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