Abade Priscos Pudding

Directions

1. Caramel: Heat sugar with a ½ cup of water in a small saucepan over high heat, without stirring. When sugar reaches an amber color reduce the heat to medium. Be careful not to burn. As soon as it has the desired color, reduce the heat to minimum and then carefully add the remaining 1tbsp of water, stir and remove from the heat. Pour over the pudding pan (6.7 in, 17 cm or 1.6 liters, with lid) making sure every bit is covered with this lovely caramel.
2. Pudding: Bring water to a boil, in a medium saucepan over high heat. Then add sugar, bacon finely sliced, cinnamon, lemon without the white part and a thermometer, if you have one. Let the syrup reach 103 ºC or 217 ºF (thin thread stage), slowly. Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 250 ºC or 482 ºF, separate egg whites from the yolks and pass the yolks through a sieve. In another pan, heat the ½ cup of Porto wine over medium heat, let it reduce by half while it aromatizes your kitchen! Then remove from the heat and let it cool. Add the cooled reduced wine to yolks, stirring as little as possible not to lose the color of the yolks. When syrup reaches 103 ºC or 217 ºF remove from the heat and pass it through a sieve to remove all the other ingredients. Let it cool slightly. Add the yolks to the syrup, pass it through a sieve again and then pour over the pan, previously covered with caramel. Cover the pan with 2 sheets of aluminum foil well tighten and the lid. Place it in a recipient with water (bain-marie) and bake it in the oven for about 1 hour. Let it sit, on a wire rack, until it is almost cold in the center of the pan or until lukewarm in the center and then unmold. It's best after some hours in the fridge.
3. Notes: *The smoked bacon must have larded and be well salted. *The yolks should be fresh and not pasteurized, to not compromise the texture , color and flavor of the pudding. *I used Tawny Porto wine. *If needed add water to the bain-marie. I didn't need.