Shiitake bacon

I have a new favourite fake bacon: shiitake bacon.

I got the idea from the PPK, in its new home here. Following a suggestion in that thread, I used dried, pre-sliced shiitakes. I reconstituted them with the barest amount of hot water, plus oil, liquid smoke, smoked paprika and salt. I think they were in the oven for about 30 minutes -- after about 15 minutes they were smelling really good, and I kept checking on them every 5 minutes to make sure they didn't burn. In the end there was a nice mixture of crispy and chewy textures.

The shiitake bacon found its way into some amazing VBLATs (vegan bacon lettuce avocado tomato). You know the fake bacon is good when it can upstage avocado in a sandwich.