Bacon Mayo (Aldi) by @Cinabar

This is not Peri Peri Mayo. We do a monthly order with Aldi and use their ‘Click N Collect’ service. On that order, I asked for Peri Peri Mayo, and this is what I received as a substitution. I didn’t mind at all, but the person from Aldi who brought our groceries to the car was thoroughly embarrassed. I kept trying to reassure him we didn’t mind and could still use it as a dip, but he listed all the other items he would have used to replace it, and he pointed out that at his last store this would never have happened as a substitution. I think it is safe to say he wouldn’t have touched Bacon Mayo had it been the last condiment on the shelf. I was quite looking forward to it.

We decided to have some Bacon Mayo with chips, and it did work really well as a dip. The flavour wasn’t quite as full on of bacon as I thought it would be. The start of the flavour is a little acidic and sharp, like a concentrated tomato taste. Then came a wave of a smoky taste, which was very strong but pleasant, and then there was a little creaminess at the end. It was a really nice combo of flavours and went really well as a dip. Perhaps even the Aldi guy would have liked it if he had been brave enough to give it a try. 

Artisan Finnebrogue naked pork-free bacon by @NLi10

 

I've reviewed a few meat-free bacons recently - the best being the Richmond one, but this one looked worth a try too.

I'd not heard of Finnebrogue but it looked like a 'good food' brand rather than an already famous name that is moving into the meat-free options.

So this one is more focused on the taste and smell of proper bacon - and it certainly passed that test - see below for evidence. It' also is less homogenous than some of the other fake bacons - each slice looks different so it's not quite as freaky.

Looks like they are well known for making meaty bacon more healthily too - I'll have to check that out too! (I'm not veggie - just meat reducing)

Doesn't really look massively authentic - no one has quite figured out how to get the white bits to disappear as you cook it.  The smell here is very much spot on though - but don't ask me...

Independent smell expert Flo was very interested in the appearance of meat in a largely veggie household.  She also ate the tiny bit I gave her which was interesting as they can usually tell that it's not for them quite quickly.  The other cat wasn't even interested in the smell.

I did enjoy this - the texture and taste is closer to the old veggie bacon's that I'd have a few years back than I'd like.  The texture in particular is not bacon-like.  But - all this said - it's a decent food that certainly excels at the smell test, but for authenticity I'd go for the Richmond over this.

Neither are quite good enough for me to want these every time I shop, but having a pack stashed away that I can eat when my very veggie partner isn't home is a useful option.

I look forwards to exploring the range more in the future.

Richmond Meat Free Smoked Bacon Rashers - first good vegan bacon? (@NLi10)

 We reviewed the other half of this combo - the meat free mine - a few weeks ago.  Finally I'm catching up on all the regular things after that Halloween rush.

And well - here they are - the facon, phacon, meat-free bacon of this new range.  Far too realistic for my veggie partner to even consider trying - but firmly living in the uncanny valley for bacon cloning.

Ever wanted to eat the same slice of bacon 8 times? well now you can!  I think food manufacturers underestimate the 'alien' sensation that having a box full of identical cuts of meat provides.  If we are to lab grow meat in the future this needs to be factored in.

I expected them to shrink a little faster so used the small pan - and as this is the veggie pan it felt slightly transgressive! it's nice that they've used colour to show that it's bacon but they also added the smell that a lot of artificial bacon things use.  This is now quite familiar (as some pre-packaged meat uses it too!) and so ironically this works.

They do crisp up decently - the ones on the box look like they were deep fried to get that super crispy outer - these have just sizzled in the oil I provided.

And I just dropped them artistically on some pasta for a very basic dinner.  The texture isn't bad actually - it's not bacon - but it's not offensive.  I'd actually say they've made Turkey Bacon here instead of Pork - which is odd - but I think that's a texture thing again.  The flavour is like meaty, smokey pork bacon and will repulse any life-long vegetarian (I had to open the windows!) but for me I could happily have these as a relatively long-life option to bacon that can happily sit in the fridge until needed.  Maybe I'll slice the remaining ones and pop them in a Carbonara?

I expect to have these again - but I think the mince worked better.

Pancake Day - With Bacon Dust & RNLI Caramel Goo (@NLi10)

Pancake Day - winter is over so lets eat all the junk!

 

This is a regular pancake for demo purposes - lemon and sugar.  Mmmmmm

Look at all these ace, zany toppings we could use!

So lets make some more!

And lets turn this one into Maple Bacon pancakes as promised - other parts of the reviews for the dust are here.

As usual - it's looking pretty inedible.  But we smear it in and stir it up...

Very smushy. And very nice too - tastes like American bacon on a pancake - but with none of the crunch.  Wonder how we'd simulate a crunch?

As I was buying a heap of things from the lovely RNLI shop anyway (teabags!) I added this for basically free.  Near date salted Caramel spread?  Don't mind if I do!

They look very different, the French one is a lot less sweet too.  Lets heap it up!

And it works amazingly - probably better than the bacon (but both were very good).  So a very big success  and I totally plan to make American fat pancakes and do the same soon too!

Bacon Milkshake - Vegan style! @alpro @deliciou (by @NLi10)

 

I bought some magical bacon flavour dust - if you've not read about it then catch up in part 1!

This started out fairly logically - if bacon flavour dust works on bagels - does Nesquik strawberry dust work on bagels too?

Plain

And lightly dusted!

And - it's like a really cheap version of jam.  Has the flavour of strawberry but none of the good bits of texture.  It did get me thinking though - it's probably quite easy to do the reverse.

What would bacon milkshake taste like?!  We used to make all kinds of milkshakes as kids.  Fizzy drinks were incredibly rare in my family growing up - it was all high juice and similar healthy squash.  Ribena milkshake is awesome if you get the amounts right (it's basically a liquid pudding) - and you can even make an orange juice based shake, but that wasn't always as successful.

It's slowly becoming easier to get hold of the best Alpro (the no sugar, no roasted one is the absolute best) so I'm happy to use some up here.  

And I can spare some maple-bacon magic Deliciou dust for this experiment.  I guess this is about half a teaspoon?

It went a bit orange, and the smell wasn't as overpowering as with the powder on dryer things. Maybe I'm getting the hand of it.  The orange looks unnatural too.

And the taste? 

It's drinkable but it's not a pleasurable experience.  It's essentially a garlic and onion milkshake - the bacon smell is very much present but the flavour isn't as strong as with the bagels.  This is probably for the best.  There are lots of little bits floating in the milkshake too which is a little offputting.

Not one for the recipe book then, but one to mark as 'done'.

Other suggestions from people so far have been -

• with scrambled eggs (great idea)
• with hot chocolate (even worse idea than the milkshake)
• in curry (another good plan)
• and of course - with pancakes as I originally planned when I ordered this!

I may save the write up of the last one for pancake day, but if people want to see if the others work then do let me know via twitter or comments.

Maple Bacon Bagels - but vegan as there is no Bacon - just @Deliciou ! (@NLi10)

 

Christmas is a magical time, where many things occur - including an increased susceptibility to the adverts that pop up in the Scrabble game my family play.  One of these things was from Australian Dragons Den and is a powder that makes anything taste like Bacon.  This is a perfect joke sister present - but the postage etc was much more reasonable if you got two.  So I got the Maple Bacon variety where as she got the original bacon.

In the video advert, people on the street tip the dust onto something - then eat it - and go - bacon!  I figured it wouldn't really be like that, but as I do like seasonings I figured it would at least compete with the Little Chef maple bacon pancakes breakfast I miss from our road trips.

At home I'd tend to use bagels instead

No MSG? Why not - it's proven that the colours in the food were the problem and MSG is great!  

It is suitable for vegans though which is fascinating.  I've long held that the best part of bacon is fried salt - which is vegan in theory - so I wonder what they use.

Sugar, salt & garlic?  Fine by me! As I suspected, this is not copying British bacon, but the more American style crispy streaky stuff. Not a problem for me!

It also said a serving size was 1g - much more than I'd used on my pre-review trials.  So here we have an approximate g.  The Gino D'Acampo scales are terrible for small measures like this - but it's close enough.

We toast the thin American-Style bagels.

We butter our control bagels (science) and conclude that they are decent.  Not as good as my usual brand, but we are in a pandemic afterall!

And on the other bagel we blend the bacon dust into the spread!

At this point its easy to get the maple syrup smell, and realise just how similar this stuff is to brick dust.  You really don't want to breath this in - and getting it on your hands means they will smell like maple for a good while.

It doesn't look like bacon, but with the increased amount from measuring out, and the realistic setting for the bacon this does work surprisingly well.  I'm not sure a blind taste test would lead English people to bacon as the first choice due to the sweetness of the maple - but on bagels & pancakes like bacon and syrup should be this works.  

I'm not sure it's cost effective, and I don't think it's something I'll finish without deliberate effort (at least 65 servings here!), but I'm certainly going to be using it as an ingredient in lunches and other things to see just how versatile this flavour powder is.

Part 2 is here! - and is Milkshakes?!

Part 3 is Here - and is Pancakes!