The Taste Test You Didn't Know You Needed

Last Sunday, on my day off, Buds and I walked down to the butcher. It was a chance for him to put faces with the names of the co-workers I mention frequently. (Just kidding. He's face blind, so he won't remember them, but at least they know he's real.) It was also a chance to pick up the pepperoni I'd forgotten in the fridge.

Sometimes when the production of a product doesn't go as it should or as expected, we get to bring it home.

Some of the necessary spices were left out of a couple pepperoni logs. It was still delicious, just not as delicious as the ones we typically sell. Perfectly scrumptious to eat for free.

While we were at the butcher, we decided to purchase some bacon and vegan honey.

The honey is made by simmering down apple juice with two different types of tea: echinacea and chamomile. We made it for vegan folks to purchase as part of their celebrating of Rosh Hashana.

Quick note on Rosh Hashana. It is the Jewish New Year. Honey is eaten to symbolize the hope for a sweet new year. Rosh Hashana begins tonight for 2024, and if you can access the article, this a good one from the New York Times explaining its significance.

You Don’t Have to Be Jewish to Celebrate Rosh Hashana https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/opinion/rosh-hashana-jewish-celebrate.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

That is a meandering path to get us to the point of this essay; we bought vegan bacon so we could do a taste test.

We oiled and baked some in the oven like we do at work for sandwiches.

We oiled, with olive oil, and fried some on the stove top.

And my funny Buddie wanted to try some in bacon fat from his recent breakfast bacon, so we did that.

The test was compromised due to skill issues, but the general consensus was that the oven baked was the preferred.

No matter which, they make a tasty little BLT.

If you eat pig product, pig bacon tastes more delicious, but for a salty, crisp bacon-ish treat, this works great. And nothing has to die.

One final cool thing my boss taught me as I was making Italian sausage last week. If you are using a food processor and you need to pour in oil or emulsify two products, the food processor plunger has a tiny hole at the bottom for exactly this purpose.

Seems so obvious once you know...

Stay tuned for more tips and tricks. 😁😁