Actually, rice paper has been one of my go-to approaches once I need any such crispy strip to crumble onto pastas, salads, grain bowls or soups; to stack into sandwiches; and to simply snack on, straight off the sheet pan. However I even have cherished making such strips from large coconut flakes and from thinly sliced carrots, tofu, tempeh, eggplant and mushrooms. They every have a definite enchantment: Some are a bit of chewier, some a bit of crisper, some a bit of fattier, some a bit of leaner.
Ramsay’s recipe, in the meantime, has lived on all around the web for years, because of his 40 million-plus followers on TikTok, little doubt. However I’m not considered one of them, so it wasn’t till I lately ran throughout a take on his take that I began to totally recognize it for its genius. Ramsay stuffs crumbled tofu between the layers of rice paper, including a bit of chewiness to the super-crisp texture, and within the course of, some protein, too. I discovered myself intrigued yet again, particularly once I noticed the end result, which can resemble pork bacon extra carefully than just about any other plant-based version I’ve seen.
And but. Ramsay presses the tofu first to get out further liquid, something I rarely do anymore. He cuts the rice paper into strips, then dips them within the marinade separately earlier than sprinkling on the tofu and topping with the second layer of strips. All that struck me as simply too fussy. I knew I might simplify it.
The tofu-pressing step was the primary to go; I simply patted it dry. And did I really want to stir extra marinade into the tofu if the rice paper was dripping in it? Nope. Maybe most significantly, reasonably than reducing the rice paper first, I brushed the entire sheets with the marinade on both sides, sprinkled the tofu on one sheet and topped it with the opposite. Solely then did I lower the strips. I skipped the wire rack strategy for baking, as a result of I knew the rice paper would crisp up with out it, so I transferred the stuffed strips proper to a parchment-lined sheet pan.
I cherished the bumpy, bubbly look of the strips, and the way the tofu gave extra meatiness (if you happen to’ll excuse that analogy) to the feel. Pork bacon, in any case, is something however monotonous to eat, and that is equally multidimensional.
If there’s one factor I hear most continuously from readers, it’s that they’re on the lookout for plant-based recipes that also pack some protein, so once I layered this “bacon” into sandwiches, I made one other departure from Ramsay’s strategy: As an alternative of a basil aioli, I made a fast white bean unfold. One other texture, extra diet.
I can’t say I’ll by no means make one other form of “bacon” once more. I do nonetheless love the style (and fats!) of the one I make from coconut, the look of the carrot one, the chew of the variations constructed from mushrooms and eggplant. And I’m certain another strategy will make itself recognized to me. However for now, if there’s one home made vegan “bacon” to rule all of them, this one appears to be like prefer it — and that alone is perhaps sufficient to make me hit the comply with button on Gordon Ramsay’s TikTok account.
