004 - Cheese Bacon!

Raised on a Moslem family, never have I eaten bacon in my life. Well, not until 2 or 3 years ago (curiosity got the best of me!), when bacon became the first pork I ever tried.

I remembered vividly how I imagine the bacon would taste like: savory, salty, with hints of smokiness and sweetness, But, noooooo. I didn't like the taste because it's way too salty for my liking (let’s just hope this happens only on the bacon that I tasted), but I absolutely loved the texture! The bacon was perfectly cooked, around 12-13 cm in length, beautifully browned, and incredibly crispy! That crispiness is beyond anything I ever ate in my whole life!

So I was stumbling upon YouTube one day, and one of my favorite cooking channel, BrothersGreenEats uploaded a tutorial on how to make a bacon, out of cheese. Check it out here:

I thought, "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!". As it turns out, it's not, and it's still one of the simplest and best tasting bacon alternative around. The basic recipe is very, very simple, even a 3 year old can do it. Here's my take on the recipe this duo came up. Here's everything you need:

1. Cheese (it has to be melting cheese. Think Cheddar, Mozzarella, Jack, Colby, Mexican, or Emmental)

2. Smoked Paprika Powder

3. Onion Powder

Ready? Here we Go!!

1. Heat your pan, Medium-High heat (Gas mark 6-7 on an electric cook top), be careful not to over heat it, we want it just heated enough to melt and crisp the cheese, not burn it

2. While the pan is heating, grate your cheese. Any kind of grater will do, but I find grater with large hole worked best for my liking.

3. Mixed the grated cheese with Paprika and Onion powder in a bowl.

4. Once the pan is hot, put your cheese in, and shape it into 'bacon' strips.

5. Watch in horror as the cheese melt. Be careful not to move them around! I know it's tempting to move them around, but trust me, it's better to leave it be for around 1-1,5 minutes!

6. Once you see there are no more cheese solid in sight, FLIP IT! And prepare to hear that majestic sizzling sound! And let it sizzle for another 30-45 seconds

7. Don't worry if the bacon looked limp, it'll harden once you let it rest!

8. After it's crisp to your liking, pull it out and let it rest over kitchen paper to drain any excess oil.

9. Go nuts.

These cheese bacon tasted absolutely divine! I like to make a BLT sandwich out of it, add a dash of Sriracha and watch as I helplessly indulged in pure bliss.

Don't blame me if you're addicted to this.


Peace

xx





P.S: BrothersGreenEats is a great source for cooking DIY. Subscribe to their channel now!