Mushroom Bacon Experiment

Hey there! Long time no see, I know. I tend to go missing for long periods of time because I wind up not getting good pictures, or sometimes I feel like my food isn't all that spectacular. Anyway, a quick post today.

I've done tofu bacon quite a lot in the last few years, but I try not to eat soy constantly. So I figured I'd try making some fakin' bacon with portabello mushrooms this time around.  I did some internet lurking and found that most people trying this would marinate the mushrooms and then cook. They also said the mushrooms shouldn't marinate for too long because it would be "too much". I got to thinking about how to approach this, and remembered that mushrooms are something like 90% water and figured I'd try a trick I learned from Alton Brown in an old eggplant episode of Good Eats. He said since eggplants are mostly water they tend to get waterlogged when they cook instead of browning (summer squash does this to me a lot in casseroles, too).  His solution was to place the sliced eggplant on a rack over a pan and lightly salt them to draw the water out, so this is exactly what I tried with the mushrooms. I figured this is much like pressing tofu to get all the water out so it cooks properly.  (Note: I removed the stems and gills, but you don't have to)

I waited about an hour and a half, until they were puckered. Then I tossed with 1½ tbsp. nutritional yeast, 1 tbsp. Bragg's liquid aminos, and 2 tbsp. liquid smoke.  

I let them marinate for 20 minutes, and then popped them onto a sheet pan lined with a Silpat (one of my favorite Christmas presents this year! And, I do apologize for the poor lighting.)

Baked it at 350°F for half an hour, flipped them, and upped it to 400°F for another half hour. My oven is old and horribly off temperature, so you may be able to do this at 350° for half an hour flipping after 15 minutes.

Here it is on a vegan blt!

If you are looking for a good vegan mayo (other than Vegenaise which is pretty amazing, but can get pricey) check out Hampton Creek's Just Mayo. It's actually amazing and tastes like Hellman's and I was able to find the large tub at ShopRite, so look for it next time you're out!

Portabello Bacon
Ingredients

• 4 large portabello mushroom caps, stems and gills removed, sliced
• 2 tbsp. liquid smoke
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce or Bragg's Liquid Aminos
• 1½ tbsp. nutritional yeast

Method

Begin by cleaning and slicing the mushrooms. Put the sliced mushrooms in a colander and put the colander in a large bowl. Lightly salt the slices to try and draw the water out. Let sit for an hour or an hour and a half, until they are quite puckered or shriveled looking. In a large bowl, combine  the liquid smoke, Aminos/soy sauce, and nutritional yeast and then toss the mushroom slices so it is all evenly coated. Allow to marinate for 20 minutes to a half hour, then lay slices on a parchment or Silpat-lined pan and bake at 350°F, for a half hour, flipping half way through.