baconsubstitutions
I do a great simple dish that involves bacon so I'm interested whether there is a vegetarian substitute for bacon. It would be quite useful having one since I use it all the time.
Here's the recipe:
I make small ball doughs that I boil for a couple of minutes until they are a bit firmer. In the mean time I fry bacon pieces (not slices but small square pieces) and eventually add dough balls to bacon and add sour cream.
The problem is, few animals have anywhere near the fat content of pork. Bacon is actually leaner than some other cuts from the pig (Mmmmmm, fatback...Had fried fatback once, true story.)
So to get a cut of meat with as much fat as bacon? Pretty much impossible. But bacon is also about smoky flavor, and delicious nitrates (and gas phase polycyclic aromatics, the best carcinogen on the planet). There is duck bacon, lamb bacon, beef bacon. There's probably veal bacon, but that'd be pretty expensive.
Most people recommend lamb bacon, if you can't handle pork, but the beef bacon is probably easier to find in the US.
Edit:
Behold fried fatback!
Best Answer
Bac'n Bits are, in fact, vegetarian. They're a passably good crunchy garnish.
There's also Bacon Salt; which has many variety and spin-off products. It's vegetarian and kosher!