Yes, the wonder food. Let’s face it, adding bacon to anything makes it better (even bacon…more bacon means more better).
So, I’d like to share a couple little things we have experimented with around Yinzer Central (well, where I work at least).
Chocolate Covered Bacon. Yes…cook that bacon VERY crispy. Make sure to pat down as much fat as possible and dip it in a dark chocolate. You won’t be disappointed. I’m not kidding.
For a while, we thought we had found the pinnacle of bacon technology. Oh, we were so wrong.
Bacon Wrapped Dates:
Take pitted dates (you can get them nearly everywhere…). Buy a package of Maple Bacon and cut it in half (you don’t need the full length). Wrap the bacon around the date. Hold in place with a toothpick.
Set these on a cookie sheet (cover it in foil for easy cleanup). Put the tray in the oven at 250 degrees for 2-3 hours. The Maple Bacon carmelizes on the date. Pull out, let cool…EAT.
which, aggravatingly, they have not been stocking at Whole Foods.
Still, I will agree with Scheky and Fly on the basis of bacon being a non-duplicatable experience. Even having abstained for 15 years, the smell is tantalizing, the crispy-crunchness is mouth-watering.
Here I must pipe up and clarify that the aforementioned baconologists are, of course, referring to 'Merkin bacon, not the other products you get by the same name in Canada, Ireland, or Britain.
A local pub only serves British bacon on its burgers. Flavor: unenthralling as a burger supplement; more like a sort of quite meek ham. Texture: you can’t bite off smoky, savory, crunchy pieces; it’s resistant, so the Britbacon gets pulled out whole like a salty discorporated tongue and you have no choice but to find some way to tackle the wet slab of meat now hanging out of your face before you can address the rest of the burger - the effect is that you rather resemble a monitor lizard consuming its kill - and the only other solution that would afford you any gustatorial dignity would be to dine on your burger with knife and fork, which would be ridiculous. So, nope. Doesn’t work.
That said, a so-called Ulster fry is delicious. Just don’t put that kind of bacon on my burgers and ask me to say it is a right and proper thing.
I lived in Katmandu for awhile, on the block
where the butchers lived, so I saw lots of
pigs slaughtered. Heaven knows why pigs are
so smart but they definitely know the score
well in advance, and every pig for blocks
screams when a pig is slaughtered.
If you can imagine being dragged off and
tied up so that, in the morning, your
head will be crushed with several blows
of an axe, then it happens as you scream
and try to roll away, that’s what pigs go
through. They feel what you would feel.
One doesn’t have to be a vegetarian not
to want to be involved in this. I don’t eat pigs.
Too much pain and terror.
Pigs are the last animals we should eat.
I’ll have to look into that. We do the same thing with water chestnuts (crunchy), pineapple (sweet), scallops (best grilled), and smoked oysters (Not my favorite, but some people love them).
Edit to add: Baked at a higher temp for a shorter time.
I’m not sure about cost comparison.
Smart Bacon doesn’t have the stripes that try to look like bacon’s fat/lean variegation. You can cook it soft or crispier, though crispy can get a little dry if you’re not careful, but on a sandwich with mayo (or vegenaise) tomato and lettuce it’s excellent even if a little dry.
The main reason I buy Lightlife instead of Morningstar, as a rule, is that many Morningstar meat subs are made with egg whites and one of the girls is a vegan.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen slices of bacon without a little hair on it.
I love bacon. But I prefer it baked in an omelet. Never seen non-bacon bacon. Can’t imagine why a veg would like the taste of bacon but wouldn’ eat bacon. Just like I don’t understand why people would drink alcohol-free beer, or decaf-coffee. People can be strange…
And chocolate covered bacon??? Doesn’t matter how good it would taste, I don’t think I will ever try that. Neither the oysters with chocolate…
I’m going to Fox with this! 
