Vegetables Wellington Adventure Part One: “Fake Bacon”

Me: “This might be the most insane thing I’ve ever attempted in the kitchen.” Pause. “I foresee crying.” Guillaume: “I do, too.”

Let’s rewind slightly. For the better part of four years I’ve wanted to make J. Kenji López-Alt’s highly involved vegetables Wellington recipe every time autumn rolls around. With an ingredient list longer than my arm, an optimistic total active time of four hours, and a caution about the high difficulty level, this recipe is not messing around.

But when I initially polled friends about their interest in the plant-based holiday roast, responses ranged from “no thanks” to “meh.” So I put it on the backburner. Until now.

Wyatt had invited us over to his place for Beyond Burgers with caramelized onions and vegan cream cheese on pretzel buns. Enthusiasm for these wonders morphed into a conversation about vegan recipes. Turns out he had made a different vegetables Wellington for Thanksgiving last year. When I floated making Kenji’s version for a fall party, he said, “Please don’t go to any trouble for me.”

The thing is, I love a good culinary challenge, I enjoy mushrooms, and I’m not scared of phyllo dough. So I eagerly planned to make two veggie Wellingtons — one to freeze ahead of time, and one to make right beforehand to compare.

To start, Kenji’s recipe calls for his crispy vegan smoked-mushroom “bacon” or “fake-on” as we’ve started calling it. Wyatt dubbed them “smoky mushrooms” after trying the first still-chewy batch. Several online commenters said they had skipped it or used a vegan store-bought substitute for the vegetables Wellington. Since the local Asian grocery stores stock king oyster mushrooms and recipe reviews were positive, I decided to give it a go with some tweaks.

One is that I doubled the recipe for one pound of mushrooms, enough for a Wellington plus snacks since we’re already going through the trouble. Also the smallest package in the store was that amount.

Another change was not smoking the fake bacon in a metal pot. That’s certainly an option, but we had smoked maple syrup on hand (thank you, Kyle!). Other alternatives include liquid smoke and smoked paprika. The coating for the mushrooms should taste good on its own, so adjust the smoke level as needed.

These smoky mushrooms have some decent bacon-like qualities, holding their own in a fake-on, lettuce, and tomato sandwich (FLT). I bet they’d be good in a vegan pasta carbonara, too. My main advice is to avoid taking bigger slices out of the oven too soon. The original recipe warns about burning but I didn’t come close. You want them thoroughly crispy, not chewy.

As I write this now, the first vegetables Wellington is chilling in the freezer. Seven pages of recipe printouts sit on the table covered in my notes. My apron still smells like mushrooms. Epic doesn’t even start to describe it. Stay tuned for part two.

Smoky Mushroom “Bacon”
Adapted from Serious Eats

1 lb. King Oyster mushrooms
4 Tbsp. canola oil or another neutral oil
4 tsp. smoked maple syrup
¼ tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. white sugar
¼ tsp. paprika
Vegetable oil cooking spray
Salt
Ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in the center position.

Cut all of the mushrooms lengthwise into ⅛-inch slices or thinner. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the maple syrup, sugar, garlic powder, paprika, and 4 tablespoons of canola oil. Mix with a fork.

Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil, shiny side up. Spray each one evenly with cooking oil to coat. Put the mushrooms on the sheets in a single layer. Season them with salt and ground pepper, then flip the slices and season again.

Bake for 20 minutes. Turn the slices carefully with a thin metal spatula or tongs. Return the pans to the oven and continue cooking until well browned and crisp, about 20 minutes more. You might need to remove the smallest, crispiest ones, and allow the bigger ones to continue baking until they’re completely done. Monitor them to avoid burning, but make sure the big ones do get deep brown all the way across. This may take several more minutes.

Remove the pans from the oven and transfer the baked mushrooms to a paper towel-lined platter or cutting board to cool for several minutes. Keep the lined baking sheets out and leave the oven on.

Dredge each mushroom slice in the bowl with the coating, shake off excess and put them back on the lined baking sheets. Season to taste with more salt and pepper, if desired. Alternatively you can put them all in the bowl and carefully toss to coat, but they may break.

Return the coated mushrooms to the lined baking sheets and bake until the sugars start to caramelize gently, about 5 minutes longer. They should be crispy.

Remove them to clean plates and let them cool completely. They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, but taste best crisp out of the oven.