Monday, December 22, 2014

Bacon-Off

A while back, Dan and I were at the kosher store and spotted a product called "Facon." It is dry-cured kosher beef that supposedly looks, cooks and tastes like the real thing. We brought it home and were actually impressed with how it tasted in our BLT sandwich.

While preparing for our visit with my folks, we were back at the kosher store and planned on picking up a pack of Facon for them to try. We spotted several more varieties of fake bacon, and knew that we had to try them all. We picked up a pack of turkey bacon, lamb bacon and one more variety of beef bacon for good measure. We are all big foodies and love any activity involved with eating or cooking. We are also big nerds. I knew they would love a bacon-off as much as I would.


Early one morning Dan cooked up the four varieties of bacon and labeled them so we wouldn't know which was which. We tasted each one and gave our verdicts.

Turkey Bacon

Beef Bacon

Can you tell which is which?

We started with A. Mom and I both really liked it. Dan and Dad said it was good, but they weren't in love. I could eat a few slices of that every morning and be very satisfied. Fat, but satisfied.

B was interesting. I've never had ham before, but that's what this supposedly tasted like. It was good, but I wouldn't describe it as bacon. It was more like a sweet deli meat. I think it would be really tasty in a sandwich. Mom didn't love it and Dan thought it was just ok.



C was delicious. Super crunchy, good smoky flavor. Loved it. Mom liked it, but not as much as A.


D was horrendous. We couldn't even eat it. It was so obviously lamb from the first smell. I really love lamb, but this was incredibly gamy. The flavor was so unpleasant that we actually threw it out. I've had lamb bacon in the past and really enjoyed it, but this particular variety was terrible.

So, at the end of the test, the clear-cut winner was beef bacon, as both A and C were beef! Now, I haven't had actual bacon in at least twenty years (!), so I can't claim that this is a dead-ringer for the real thing. What I can say is that it is pretty darn good. Especially wrapped around a cocktail weiner and sprinkled with brown sugar. (Do yourself a favor and make these.)

Ready to go in the oven

What about you? Have you had any fake bacons that you love, or will only the real thing do? I also really like MorningStar's veggie bacon, but, let's be honest. That isn't even in the same category as a meat bacon.

List of bacons:
A: Aaron's Beef Fry
B: Hod Lavan Turkey Bacon
C: Jack's Gourmet Facon
D: Shalom Kosher Lamb Bacon

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