Turkey bacon

{{Short description|Meat prepared from chopped, formed, cured, and smoked turkey}}

Turkey bacon is a meat prepared from chopped, formed, cured, and smoked turkey, commonly marketed as a low-fat alternative to pork bacon; it may also be used as a substitute for bacon where religious dietary laws (for example halal in Islam and kashrut in Judaism) forbid the consumption of pork products.

Preparation

File:Turkey bacon cooking in skillet.jpg

Turkey bacon can be cooked by pan-frying or deep-frying. Cured turkey bacon made from dark meat can be 90% fat free. It can be used in the same manner as bacon (such as in a BLT sandwich),{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/22/FDJM13HNUH.DTL&type=printable|title=One turkey bacon stands out in the flock|last=Gold|first=Amanda|date=October 22, 2008|work=San Francisco Chronicle|access-date=2022-05-17}} but the low fat content of turkey bacon means it does not shrink while being cooked and has a tendency to stick to the pan, thus making deep-frying a faster and more practical option.{{cite news|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/143275/TURKEY-BACON-WINS-SUPPORT-AS-GOOD-MEAT-AT-BREAKFAST.html?pg=all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223200636/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/143275/TURKEY-BACON-WINS-SUPPORT-AS-GOOD-MEAT-AT-BREAKFAST.html?pg=all|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 23, 2014|title=Turkey Bacon Wins Support as Good Meat at Breakfast|date=January 22–23, 1991|work=Deseret News|access-date=2009-05-13}}

Alternative to pork bacon

Turkey bacon is lower in fat and calories than pork bacon, but its lower fat content makes it unsuitable in some situations, such as grilling.{{cite news|url=http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/30478911/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503134850/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/30478911/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 3, 2009|title=Eat cheap but well! Make a tasty beef in beer|date= April 30, 2009|publisher=MSNBC|access-date=2009-05-14}} It is also known as "facon" , which is a portmanteau of the words "fake" and "bacon".{{Cite web |title=Gamze Smokehouse Turkey Bacon Nitrite Free |url=https://www.doorsteporganics.com.au/product/Turkey-Bacon-Gamze-Smokehouse-200g |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=www.doorsteporganics.com.au}} As a lower fat alternative, it became popular in America in the early 90s.{{cite news|last1=Kissinger|first1=Jessie|title=The Assessment: Why Bacon Isn't Over|url=https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/a16995/why-bacon-isnt-dead-history-14789227/|access-date=15 March 2018|publisher=Esquire|date=3 January 2013}}

Turkey bacon is an alternative also for people who do not eat pork for religious or dietary reasons. Pork is haram (not halal) to Muslims and treyf (not kosher) to Jews. When Beautiful Brands International, a company from Tulsa, Oklahoma, signed a deal with a Saudi Arabian firm to open 120 locations in eight countries in the Middle East, they had to replace pork bacon with halal turkey bacon in their recipes at Camille's Sidewalk Cafe locations because Islamic customs forbid consumption of pork and non-halal meat.{{cite web|url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=53&articleid=20090513_53_E1_BatflB34546&allcom=1|title=FreshBerry translates well: 120 stores to open in Middle East |last=Arnold|first=Kyle|date=May 13, 2009|work=Tulsa World|access-date=2009-05-14}}{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/11/16/bacon-really-10-thanksgiving-foods-you-didnt-know-were-kosher/868265001/|title=Bacon? Really?: 10 Thanksgiving foods you didn't know were kosher|author=Zlati Meyer|date=2017-11-16|publisher=USA Today}}

Nutritional value

{{missing information|section|weight of "two strips", perhaps an ounce?|date=April 2024}}

Two strips (around 28 grams or approximately 1 ounce) of Butterball turkey bacon contain 3 grams of fat and 50 calories (32% of which from fat); turkey bacon from Louis Rich and Mr. Turkey contain 5 and 4 grams of fat, respectively, per two slices. By comparison, two strips of regular pork bacon contain, on average, some 7 grams of fat.{{cite book

| last = Bellerson

| first = Karen J.

| title = The Complete & Up-to-Date Fat Book: A Guide to the Fat, Calories, and Fat Percentage in Your Food

| publisher = Avery

| year = 2001

| page = 55

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DTj8TtDsj3oC

| isbn = 978-1-58333-099-9}} Andrew Smith, in The Turkey: An American Story, notes that turkey products (including turkey bacon) contain, on average twice as much sodium as the pork products they replace.{{cite book

| last = Smith

| first = Andrew F.

| title = The Turkey: An American Story

| publisher = U of Illinois P

| year = 2006

| page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780252031632/page/107 107]

| url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780252031632

| url-access = registration

| isbn = 978-0-252-03163-2}}