Tofu Bacon (Totally Not Vegetarian)

I like getting as much out of my food as possible. So when I cook bacon, which is not very often, I save the bacon fat. It's full of flavor, it has less saturated fat than butter, and it's such a shame to throw all that out.

I really love tofu, although depending on where you are it might not be so cheap. At school, the local whole foods store has it for $1.99/lb, and I've seen it at the grocery store for $2.49-3.49/lb., but at home (by which I mean, HMart), I can get it for as little as $.88/lb. on sale. So shop around.

I don't know why it occurred to me to fry tofu in bacon fat, but thank God for the Sudden Fit of Genius^TM.

Here's what you'll need:

Firm or extra firm tofu (they usually come in 1 lb. packages, but this one happens to be 18 oz.), soy sauce, brown sugar, and bacon fat.

Soy sauce is one of those things where I won't go for the cheap stuff. It just doesn't have very much flavor. So go cheap on some other condiment and buy soy sauce that's a little more expensive.

Drain the water out of the package and place the tofu on top of some folded paper towels on a flat pan or plate.

Place more paper towels on top, and then another pan, and weight it down with cans to press the water out of the tofu. Let it sit for at least half an hour, changing the paper towels once.

Cut the block of tofu in half, and then into 1/4 inch slices. Lay the slices in a shallow pan.

Mix 1/4 cup soy sauce (why 1/4 cup? because that's all I had left) with 1 tbsp. packed brown sugar and pour it over the tofu slices. Marinate for about 20 minutes, until most of the soy sauce is absorbed.

Then pat the slices dry and dredge them in flour.

Mmm, cold bacon fat. That's about a tablespoon and a half.

Melt it in a big pan.

Fry the tofu slices about five minutes on each side, until it's crispy.

Drain on some paper towels.

How about a nice tofu bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich?

For those who are interested: 2 oz. bacon has 309 calories, 24 g fat, 8 g saturated fat, 1 g carbohydrates, 63 mg cholesterol, and 21 g protein. 2 oz. tofu bacon has 84 calories, 4 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 5 g carbohydrates, 2 mg cholesterol, and 4.5 g protein.

(Originally posted to Cheap Cooking on July 11, 2008.)