FACON – Vegan, Rice Paper Faux Bacon – BLTs are Back!

FACON – The Vegan, Rice Paper Bacon

Facon - Rice Paper Bacon
Facon. Rice paper bacon.

Preamble

A few weeks ago I tried some seitan bacon from a package, and it was oh SO not good.  I mentioned it to my vegan buddy Ryan, and he told me people were having good luck with a rice paper bacon they were whipping up!  Whaaat!?  Ok, I’ll bite. (ha.)  So here we are, back in the lab with a bunch of spices, and some rice paper, to verify the big claims we’ve seen about the net, including this facon being life changing.

So here’s how we do it.  We mix up a batch of bacony flavored marinade, take strips of rice paper, hydrate them, dip’em in marinade, and bake’em on a rack for a few minutes.  That’s about it!  Sound easy?  It is!

The trickiest part is obviously preparing the rice paper.  After playing a bit, I found what was easiest for me was this:  Take two sheets of rice paper together, and cut them into thick bacon-ish shaped strips, and lay them in a plate piled in their couples.  Grab a set, dunk them in water for a second, shake off excess water as best you can, then instantly give them a bath in the facon fluid, and then place right onto the parchment paper.  I tried ‘hydrating the whole sheet‘ route, but once the sheets are hydrated they are really desirous of folding in on themselves, making funny shapes, and locking that way, quite as you’d expect.  🙂  I highly recommend the cut and dunk method above.

Freshly dunked facon

It was recommended to cook them for 7-9 minutes, and I pulled them at 8 as they were starting to burn in spots.  A few of them had parts with an acrid taste to them, I’m unsure where this came from, because I tasted the marinade as soon as it was done.  It surprised me just how bacony it was, so it wasn’t coming from that.  One guess is burning rice paper where there wasn’t much marinade.  A few had a bit too much marinade, and they didn’t have this taste, and were not burnt, but wound up being a touch rubbery.  In between these two flaws I think was where the facon magic happened.

Finished facon

Not exactly like bacon, but totally yummy.  I thought they would be great in a situation where facon wasn’t the only taste and texture happening.  I also think some of the variation was due to the marinade needing to be whisked a few times as the facon was being prepared.  I was warned by the recipe I was inheriting from, so it was my own fault.  The oil started separating from everything else, so the last pieces wound up with a higher ratio of oil, and I think this may have contributed to that initial funkiness some of them had.

There’s a step in the instructions where we add some marbling to the facon, you know… so it looks like real bacon.  🙂

Faux marbling sauce

You might call this step optional.  Not in the house of Soul Hummus you don’t.  Get out that brush, and do some artwork on those facons!

Marbled facon!

We whipped up a nice FLT, (Yup, a facon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.) and it was actually quite yummy!  When the focus was drawn away from the facon, it seemed a whole lot more like bacon.

Facon sandwich closeup

My 8 year old daughter Katie had some of it, and she really liked it, and she’s pretty fussy.   She wasn’t as much of a fan of the facon on it’s own though.

I’m gonna need a few more experiments to make any kind of realistic judgement, but I think this facon is great on a sandwich like we had, and I also think it would be super for facon bits in a salad or on a baked potato, maybe even in a southern green bean recipe if you’re one of my friends in the south, where they are in firm agreement that bacon is also a spice, and not just a meat.  🙂  Don’t go thinking you’re gonna fool anyone with this stuff though, you definitely will not.

Let’s make some FACON!!!

Facon ingredients
Facon Ingredients

Ingredients

  • at least 6 sheets rice paper (1 pack has more than you need)
  • 2 tbsp grape seed oil
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • ½ (1)tsp liquid smoke
  • ½ (1) tsp maple syrup
  • dash black pepper
  • dash of spicy Hungarian paprika
  • small amount of balsamic vinegar, or balsamic vinegar glaze

The Spell

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Grab two large, wide bowls, and fill one half way with water, and in the other, mix up all the ingredients sans the rice paper.
  3. Grab a metal rack, and prepare it with a layer of parchment paper, and keep it near the facon marinade bowl.
  4. Gather two sheets of rice paper, hold them together, and cut then into bacon sized strips, preferably using food scissors.  Place the piles of soon to be facon on a plate nearby.
  5. Grab a set of rice paper partners, and sink them in the water bowl for a second, shake them off, and then give them a strong dredging through the facon sauce, and place them right onto their spot on the rack.  Repeat until finished.
  6. Take a small amount of the facon sauce, and put it in a small bowl, and add a little balsamic until it’s pretty dark.  Use a brush to make some fake marbling on your facon, give it some artistic soul!
  7. Cook for 8 – 10 minutes, but make sure you watch it closely.  If it burns too much it’s not going to be good.

Outro

Well you’ve been makin’ the facon, may as well be tastin’ the facon…  I suggest the FLT like we did, it was fast and yummy and a great way to try it in context!

I don’t think my life was changed, but it definitely brought me some joy having a BLT-ish FLT!  Hope you guys enjoy your facon!  I want to hear if you find any tricks of your own to make this better!

Until next time, much love to you and yours.  🙂

 

This recipe was adapted mostly from this one over at ‘Yup, It’s Vegan‘:

Vegan Rice Paper Bacon (possibly life-changing)

UPDATES

UPDATE 1:  So I officially just finished what was left of that facon, from earlier today.  None left.  Little sad.  Guess it can’t be that bad.  lol

 

Make Chinese Five Spice Powder! – Make your own spice blend and jazz up your asian cooking!

MAKE CHINESE FIVE SPICE POWDER!

Introduction

Have you played with Chinese Five Spice powder?!

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Five-spice powder is a spice mixture of five or more spices used primarily in Chinese cuisine but also used in other Asian and Arabic cookery.
Five-spice powder is used for cocktails as well.

 

5 Spice is so darn beautiful, and so aromatic, it’s kinda to die for, spice wise…  That’s why it’s super neat to whip up some of your own Chinese five spice, fresh and wonderful.   If you’re going to attempt steamed Chinese buns, you’ll certainly want some of this.  I made a faux-pork vegan jackfruit version for a party last year and the reviews were somewhat polarized.  The flavor was great, but the jackfruit texture was a little weird, and threw some of us off.  I’m not done dancing with those jackfruit buns yet though, it’s a work in progress…  🙂  What did made the flavor super, was this Chinese 5 Spice right here.

I sourced everything I needed here from the Indian grocer.  If you’re a vegan / vegetarian and you have access to an Indian grocer, go!  Don’t miss out!  Here in Frisco, Texas, US where we’re at, we have a few, but India Bazaar is closest and has great selection, so it’s my fave.

India Bazaar in Frisco, TX

The only thing that wasn’t from IB, were the cloves, which came from the tiny expensive bottle at the normal grocer that I generally try to avoid, but that’s another post…  You can see in the pic, all the spices I needed, cost less than $8 (sans cloves) but a 1.75 ounce bottle of McCormick 5 spice costs $5.98 at Walmart.  I estimate we could make around 12 bottles worth with what we bought, so spend about the same, and have sweet little gifts for your friends at your next dinner party, AND fresh spices!  Finally, here’s the 5 Spice lowdown!

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp cloves
  • 1 tsp fennel seed
  • 1 tsp star anise
  • 1 tsp szechuan peppercorns

Tools

I use a mortal and pestle, but you can use any kind of grinder that you like!

Instructions

  1.   Crush up the star anise a bit so it can measure and toast up easily.  They really are little 3d stars, and in toasting them, not much surface area would be hit otherwise.  Crush up the cinnamon a bit to measure as well.  Toast everything but the cinnamon for a few minutes, in a dry skillet.  You’re just about done when the peppercorns get very aromatic.  (You’ll notice in my haste both preparing for a party, and trying to get some shots for you guys, my cinnamon also wound up in the skillet!  -gasp!-  It got toasted as well, and didn’t really seem to do any harm!  But don’t toast yours, I’ve never seen a recipe that calls for that, unless you really have a hankering to taste some toasted cinnamon, then sure, float that boat!)
  2. Take your toasted spices, and your cinnamon, drop them in whatever you’re using to pulverize this stuff, and have at it.
  3. Place the freshly magicked 5 Spice in an airtight container to store, and hopefully, use some right away in a wonderful dish!  And with that, here are some…

Dish Ideas!

Five Spice Noodles with Broccoli – Haven’t had this one yet but it’s on my list!

Peppery Tofu with Chinese Five Spice and Black Bean Sauce – You know it looks fabulous…

Chinese Jackfruit Buns – I used this recipe at the party.

Chinese jackfruit buns!

There are lots more, just do a quick search on the Googs and you’ll find all kinds of things!

I hope you take the time to give working with your own fresh spices a chance, it comes with a lot of self satisfaction, and is awesome for the flavor of all the hard work you put in the kitchen, next level stuff here, so come on!  🙂

Much love to you all, see you next time!

 

 

Organic or not? The best and worst of toxic produce to help you choose.

In this toxic world we’ve created, it’s obviously become time for us to take matters into our own hands when it comes to getting our family a clean, healthy and nutritious food supply.  We all know, going organic with all our fruits and vegetables can be an expensive undertaking, so these lists go a long way in helping us cut the corners we can, and establishing which items we must either choose organic, or not choose at all.  Here are the latest lists, and some links to more information.

THE DIRTY DOZEN

Here is the “DIRTY DOZEN” of produce!  Somewhere between 47 and 67 toxic chemicals in each of these, so go organic, or go home!!!

  • celery
  • peaches
  • strawberries
  • apples
  • domestic blueberries
  • nectarines
  • sweet bell peppers
  • spinach, kale and collard greens
  • cherries
  • potatoes
  • imported grapes
  • lettuce

THE CLEAN FIFTEEN

And THESE are the “CLEAN FIFTEEN”, with trace or no toxic chemicals in them, so you can nab the non-organic!

  • onions
  • avocados
  • sweet corn
  • pineapples
  • mango
  • sweet peas
  • asparagus
  • kiwi fruit
  • cabbage
  • eggplant
  • cantaloupe
  • watermelon
  • grapefruit
  • sweet potatoes
  • sweet onions

EWG does a lot of good, and is the organization behind the research here.  Check them out, here it’s worthwhile.

And here’s a link directly to their Food News!  EWG Food News

Much love to you and yours!  🙂

Pickawhat? Worchestershire isn’t vegan!?

Pickapeppa Sauce!

So I’m saucing up some food with some Lea & Perrins Worchestershire sauce…  Can you say that correctly!?  When I say it the way people say is correct, my mouth feels really funny.  I deeply just want to pronounce it exactly how it looks, but my wife has laughed and corrected me often enough that I am trying to push through this space language way of saying it…  So anyway, back to “warshishter“…  Pssht.  🙂  So I’m eating some of that sauce on some fake chicken, and I get that weird feeling you get when you know you goofed and you don’t want to address it, because if you do you know it will forever change your relationship with that thing…  You know that feeling?  🙂  So I take the plunge and I scope out the bottle for ingredients, and I take this in:

Ingredients

Ingredients:  Distilled White Vinegar, Molasses, Sugar, Water, Salt, Onions, Anchovies (?!?), Garlic, Cloves, Tamarind Extract, Natural Flavorings, Chili Pepper Extract.

DANGIT!  Seriously?  Of all things, ANCHOVIES??  In War Sister sauce!?  Come ON…

So there it is, another condiment booted from my life.  So sad.  So I jump on Facebook and express my dismay like any decent middle aged parent would do in our current segment of time, and it doesn’t take long before a friend recommends Pickapepper as a replacement.  So I nab a bottle, and here are the ingredients for completeness sake:

Ingredients: Cane Vinegar, Sugar, Tomatoes, Onions, Raisins, Sea Salt, Ginger, Peppers, Garlic, Cloves, Black Pepper, Thyme, Mangoes, Orange Peel

Nice!  So I throw it on one of those Beyond Meat burgers today, and it really was fabulous!  I tried a little alone, and it is very tasty.  It’s similar to WarChester, but it’s a little more tangy, and I’m pretty sure, it’s a little less fishy…  lol

Lea & Perrins, and Pickapeppa, a wonderful vegan replacement!

The takeaway is, Lea & Perrins Warmaster sauce has fish in it, and Pickapepper is a pretty sweet alternative for vegan/vegetarians!

Enjoy friends!  Much love to you!

Soul Hummus – The Site, The Recipe

Welcome to the new SoulHummus.com!  I’ve been working on a recipe for the best hummus in the world for over 10 years.  This site is here to bring that recipe to you, and any new advancements as I continue to refine it, and create spin-offs.  Nab it here!

SOUL HUMMUS – The Recipe!

We’re also going to bring you all the best in vegan and vegetarian info, especially our favorite, RECIPES!!!  We have a focus on the DFW area of Texas (Dallas / Fort Worth), but we’ll be bringing you happenings everywhere we find them.  Welcome to the site, hope we can give you something useful, and please let us know what you think of the hummus!  Much love to you and yours!!!  🙂

 

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