A few months ago, I found a soup mix at my local grocers by Canterbury Naturals. They have several varieties but the one I picked up was Roasted Garlic Potato Corn Chowder. It's a dry mix with seasoning that I made for lunch that day and it is delicious. In addition to the mix itself, you need a few other ingredients, including chicken broth and a few slices of bacon. I use a LOT of chicken broth in my cooking so I always have some on hand and didn't give it a 2nd thought but bacon? That's some of most disgusting stuff on the planet. Trust me when I tell you I have encountered some truly disgusting stuff in my day (I will spare you the details - you're welcome) so I know what I'm talking about. Bacon is disgusting. Don't let the smell or taste fool you, really. It's just nasty. I substituted canadian bacon and was perfectly pleased with the finished product. It's quite tasty.
In preparing for Meatless March, I threw one of these mixes in my shopping cart thinking it was a tried and true vegetarian dish, if I just left out the Canadian Bacon. It really doesn't call for all that much anyhow. But when I went to prepare it during the first few days of the month .... DESPAIR! I had forgotten all about the chicken broth! I placed the mix back in the pantry and tried to figure out if there was a way to justify using chicken broth as an ingredient (since it is not actual flesh). I knew without a doubt what Chip would say if I asked him about it so that was that.
OK, listen up. I recently discovered that there is such a thing as MEATLESS chicken broth! Seriously? Who would have thought? I remain utterly amazed by the meatless community in this regard. How in the world do they make chicken broth without chicken? I am fascinated by this, but I really don't want to spend the time and/or energy to find out. It's not important, really. What IS important is that I was able to make the Roasted Garlic Potato Corn Chowder for dinner last night without cheating and without sacrificing one bit of the taste. I wonder if there is a reasonable meatless substitute for bacon.
Hold it right there, sista! You are oh, so wrong on this one. Bacon is beautiful, bacon is DELICIOUS, bacon has the power to turn blah into boo-yah! In fact, there's nothing quite like it. How dare you? Yum!!! Bought some just yesterday for some tasty BLTs this weekend.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you might want to try this helpful hint...You must COOK the bacon before eating it. Vegetarian or not, failure to do so will result, as you correctly described, a disgusting and unappetizing product.
ReplyDeleteAhh, the marvelous frying pan to the rescue!
Nancy