Is there a good way to make vegetarian carbonara?
My partner is now a vegetarian, and one food I miss cooking for dinner together is spaghetti carbonara. What would a good substitute for the pancetta/bacon be? The role of the pork is not just the flavor, but the hot liquid fat also emulsifies the rest of the dish and cooks the egg. So a different approach would need to fill both roles of the pork.
Best Answer
Do not look for all these functions in one off-the-shelf ingredient.
For the smoky taste and bacon texture, try various brands (there are differences in taste and texture) and cuts (as in, HOW you cut it) of smoked tofu. Dulse seaweed is also often recommended as a bacon substitute (but can taste too fishy).
Where hot saturated fat is needed, you will need to add that separately at the right time - or separately fry the abovementioned ingredients with excess butter/oil (getting some smoky flavor infusion) and add them with (or before) that excess oil. Butter or ghee/clarified butter (probably preferrable due to heat tolerance) are chemically closer (mostly saturated fat) to bacon fat than an oil.
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How do you make carbonara without meat?
InstructionsIs there a vegetarian carbonara?
Smoked cheese replaces bacon in this creamy veggie version of spaghetti carbonara. Use sundried tomatoes for a more savoury taste, while semi-dried tomatoes will be sweeter.How do you add veg to carbonara?
Toss the pasta in the pan with the courgettes and mushrooms, then remove from the heat and add a ladleful of the reserved cooking water and the egg and cheese sauce. Add the fresh parsley, if using, and the lemon zest and juice, then sprinkle over most of the remaining cheese.What can I use instead of bacon in carbonara?
All The Meat You Can Use In Your Carbonara- 1 Use luncheon meat. It can be any canned luncheon meat you have in your kitchen but whichever canned meat you have can be a delicious and chunky substitute for bacon. ...
- 2 Chop up leftover roast chicken. ...
- 3 Top it with sisig. ...
- 4 Stir in corned beef. ...
- 4 Swap it with mushrooms.
How to Make Vegetarian Carbonara | Yummy Ph
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Answer 2
Vegetarian bacon does exist. It's thinly sliced tofu, soy sauce and liquid smoke. I'm not a big fan of liquid smoke, so I'd probably just use a little smoked paprika. Or you could just buy it from your grocer if they carry it.
To get the crisp, give it a light dusting of cooking spray (canola oil, usually) before putting it in the pan to fry.
For the fat, I agree with rackandboneman that clarified butter is your best bet. But you also don't want to make something too hollandaise-y with that egg and butter, so you might want to add a touch of heavy cream as you finish with the egg.
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