Pork substitutes

[MaiCar_In_Mtl]

Hi everybody, I'm hoping someone can help me out here - I've been looking all over the web for hours now, but it seems no one has an answer to my question.

I often cook for people who cannot eat any pork (an pork products) for various reasons. The problem is, many yummy recipes call for bacon, pancetta, proscuito or simply the basic ground pork.

I wanted to know, does anyone have any substitutes that could come fairly close in simulating the taste, and possibly even the texture, of pork products?

Thanks in advance for any help ot hints you may be able to give me!

[AllanMcPherson]

There is no perfect replacement but, depending on what you need the pork for you can get a similar texture note a few ways.

Bacon: There is commercially available "Turkey Bacon." I've never used it so I can't comment beyond the fact it exists. If you need something like bacon bits for a sald or such I would use duck cracklings.

Dry cured (like proscuito): In MTL you should have no problem getting dry cured game meats. There is an excellet producer of these sorts of products from Quebec (the name escapes me right now, its Maison, uh, something). They have duck, bison, wapati, and even lamb. All are excellent and much milder that you might think.

Ground: Again, this depends on the dish you are making. My first thought would be a mixture of ground chicken and turkey. Ground veal should also work pretty well. You may need to watch out for the fat content however. These meats will be leaner and may give you a dryer finished product.

Just remember that you will never get an exact duplication, so don't worry about it. Enjoy your result for what it is, and have fun.

--Al

[KYHeirloomer]

If these people don't eat pork, then they don't know what it's supposed to taste like.

I'm not being facicious. If you have a recipe based on pork meatballs, and you use ground turkey instead, and it tastes good, they'll have no negative comments.

You should be able to adapt the recipes, using other proteins, in ways that are appealing.

Game is often a good substitute (although if they can't eat pork for religeous dietary reasons, game is often taboo as well). But lamb and veal are possibilities.

Chicken and duck fat (and, as Allan notes, their cracklings) provide a deeper flavor component than veggie oils, and make good subs.

None of the various bacons and hams can be actually replicated, in terms of flavor. But you can experiment with other cold cuts to devise variations on the theme. For instance, instead of wrapping, say, melon in procieutto, you might try using dried beef, soaked, if necessary, to remove some of the salt.

At base, you want to think "variation on the theme" rather than "substitution." And just think how the need for this can unleash your creative juices.

[Luc_H]

Originally Posted by MaiCar_In_Mtl

I often cook for people who cannot eat any pork (an pork products) for various reasons.

Allô MaiCar,

(I hope you know this) If one of the reason is religious, substituting the meat is not your only problem. All your ingredients will need to be either Kosher certified or Halal to avoid introducing pork by-products (like gelatin is a good example).

(I concur with Allan) for ground meat I would go for Quebec raised lamb (milder taste), veal, turkey and chicken (or a combination). Add fat and I concur with KY that the best would be duck.

Corn beef or Smokemeat (Montreal style) shredded could substitute the salted/cure taste of pancetta and procuitto but the spice profile of this meat will easily wreck havoc in a recipe so go easy to start.

vegetarian bacon bit will help adding smoky notes to replace bacon (Smokemeat is not actually smoked so will not contribute any smoke notes)

You will need to experiment but some things could turn out surprisingly great!

KY is right ... think variation rather then substitution.

Luc

[MaiCar_In_Mtl]

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[MaiCar_In_Mtl]

Thank you all for your suggestions I wasn't looking for something that was 100% the same, but as close to the original taste as possible (as a start, I'll get creative from there). When trying new recipes or recipes that I am not too attached to, then I don't mind if it doesn't taste 100% (or even 75%) like the original (with pork) recipe. But one recipe I want to try and get as close to the original as possible is my grandmother's meatball stew (which does contain pork).

Thankfully (for me), the main non-pork eater I cook for is not picky about the food being killed the right way (according to his religion). He's basically content with the "no pork please" as he knows that in my culture, eating pork on a regular basis is normal (I don't really like pork so giving it up for me is not a big thing anyway). Also the fact that I am on a tight student budget makes the whole certified Halal thing a bit harder to adhere to (although I am not certain how big of a price difference it would be).

But thank you all again for your suggestions, I will be noting them down in my cooking books. I hope to try a substitute very soon and I'll probably keep people posted on my findings as I'm sure other people have the same dilemma as me.

[cookie jim]

Originally Posted by cookie jim

Mai Car. I just wanted to warn you against turkey bacon if your patrons are older,It is very tough to chew.If you try it though bake it spraying each slice with a little vegatable spray for mouthfeel,it burns easily in a skillet and just a little taste awful. Also adding edible yeast to lean ground meat will depart a slight smokey flavor,be sure and use pork seasonings sage,thyme chrushed red pepper..edible yeast is found in health food stores I'm seeing it more an more in supermarkets, I always use it in my house bread...good luck...good cookin...cookie

fear of failure;one of those things that fulfills itself with depressing regularity