So I bought some Pilgrim's Hickory Smoked Chicken Bacon the other day because it was on sale somewhere, and I figured I could afford it as an experiment. I brought it home and cooked it a few days later. Since it's supposed to be a low-fat product, I read the directions carefully for cooking it. These days I usually bake (or roast, I guess you could say) my bacon on a rack; Pilgrim's recommends either pan-frying or baking their product, in both cases in a lightly oiled pan. I chose the latter.
The slices are somewhat thin, and obviously formed and extruded, then sliced across the resultant "loaf" to make, er, rashers. I guess the thin slice helps keep the per-serving calorie count down. It also helps the "bacon" crisp up a bit. There's also a pretty decent amount of sugar in there, at least by taste. I guess that helps with the browning, but my stuff only browned a little too much on the ends before it started to look too done, without ever looking that much done along the rest of the slice (I did 2 batches, checking on them both as they cooked). I wound up cooking both batches a little more than was recommended, but I suspect my oven runs a little colder than the thermostat says.
So, what does it taste like? In a couple words, don't bother.
More specifically, it tastes kind of like Spam, except Spam tastes a little better. It's slightly sweet, and there's a hint of the "hickory smoke" they brag about (which apparently came out of a bottle). But despite being cured, or at least having curing salts in it, it only seems a little like bacon. If you're looking for something healthier, I'd recommend eating a smaller amount of real bacon. :) If you just want some kind of breakfast meat, pretty much anything else will probably do the job as well or better. And if you buy a can of Spam and put it on the shelf, it can basically stay there forever, not using up refrigerator space. You can also use the Spam if the power goes out. ;)
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