What to use instead of bacon
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Rendered fat as the cooking medium
It delivers pork fat, salt and smoke in one go, and everything cooked in it afterwards picks all three up.
PancettaRan out
1:1
Cured but not smoked, so you get clean pork and salt with no smoke at all. It renders more slowly, so start it lower.
Salt porkRan out
1:1, blanched 5 minutes first
Much saltier and unsmoked, and it renders a lot of clean white fat. Cut the salt in the dish.
Duck fat or lardRan out
1 tbsp per 2 rashers, plus 1/4 tsp smoked paprika and a pinch of salt
The slickness and richness arrive without the meat. The paprika supplies the smoke and will burn above medium heat.
Oil with smoked paprikaPlant-based
1 tbsp oil + 1/2 tsp smoked paprika per 2 rashers
Smoke and colour with no salt or savour behind it, so the dish needs more salt. The paprika scorches bitter over high heat.
What doesn't work: Turkey bacon when you need the fat. It is formed meat with a fraction of the fat, and it releases water before anything else, so the pan steams and there is nothing left to cook the onions in.
Salty smoke through a pot of beans, soup or braise
The cure and the smoke dissolve into the liquid over a long cook and season the entire pot from underneath.
Smoked ham hockRan out
1 hock per 4 rashers
Needs 90 minutes to give up its flavour, and it adds gelatin that thickens the pot. Deeper and rounder than bacon.
Smoked paprikaPlant-based
1 tsp per 4 rashers
Smoke and a red colour with no salt or fat, so the pot needs both from elsewhere. Bloom it in oil before the liquid goes in.
Chipotle in adoboPlant-based
1 chile, minced, per 4 rashers
Real smoke with real heat attached, plus a little vinegar and sweetness from the adobo.
White miso with smoked paprikaPlant-based
1 tbsp miso + 1/2 tsp smoked paprika per 4 rashers
Supplies the salt and the savoury weight that paprika alone misses. Stir it in near the end, since a long boil flattens it.
What doesn't work: Liquid smoke by the teaspoon. A quarter teaspoon is the whole dose for a large pot. A full teaspoon tastes like an ashtray and there is no cooking it back out.
Crisp salty texture on a salad or sandwich
Once the fat has rendered and the water is gone, what is left snaps and delivers salt in bursts rather than evenly.
Prosciutto crisped in the ovenRan out
2 slices per 2 rashers, 8 minutes at 190C
Shatters rather than snaps, with less fat and no smoke. It goes from crisp to burnt in about a minute.
Mushrooms sliced thin and roasted with oil and smoked paprikaPlant-based
150 g mushrooms per 4 rashers, 25 minutes at 200C
Chewy-crisp rather than brittle, and deeply savoury. It softens within minutes of hitting a dressing.
Coconut baconPlant-based
1 cup flaked coconut + 1 tbsp soy sauce + 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 12 minutes at 160C
Brittle, smoky and noticeably sweet. It goes soft fast, so scatter it at the table.
What doesn't work: Packet bacon bits. Most are textured soy with smoke flavouring and they go soft on contact with dressing, so what you taste is the packet rather than any crunch.