- It's very potent.
Just a baby drop.
Oh!
Yeah, I had a little bit of a problem.
Here I am. I think I have a simple recipe,
and somehow there's still drama.
Hey, what's up, everybody?
It's your girl Merle here,
and today we're gonna be doing a very special
vegan substitute.
I am gonna venture to guess
that a lot of you already have heard of this one.
We're gonna be making bacon out of carrots!
This recipe comes from the one, the only,
goddess queen, Tabitha Brown.
I'm sure you guys all know about her.
She's amazing.
If you haven't already, check her out.
Tabitha's carrot bacon recipe went mega viral on TikTok.
Everybody's been talking about it.
People have been asking me to do this for a while.
Today's the day.
So let's get into this.
This recipe seems really easy.
I'm gonna start by just cutting the top
and the bottom off of my carrots.
Not to brag, but to brag,
I've actually been able to work with Tabitha
a couple of times in the past.
She's such a warm, calming presence.
And if you're wondering if she's as nice in person
as she seems to be, she's even nicer.
The way she did this is she just used a regular old peeler,
and she peeled them into really thin strips.
I have used carrots in the past to make lox,
and it was very successful to most of us.
Most of us liked it a lot.
If you have the carrot elevated above your hand,
I have mine right up against the side of my cutting board,
you can actually peel further down.
Your hand's not knocking into the cutting board.
All right.
So now we've got all of this great carrot bacon.
It already looks way more fun than normal carrots.
So now it's time to make the marinade.
Again, super simple.
She didn't give exact measurements,
so I'm gonna be kinda eyeballing this a little bit.
But Tabitha used some maple syrup, some Liquid Smoke.
And Liquid Smoke is gonna be very important to this recipe.
It's very potent, so you really don't need to use a lot.
If I look on this, it says,
"Mix two teaspoons per pound of ground meat."
So for like four carrots' worth of carrot bacon,
I'm gonna say an eighth of a teaspoon.
Just a baby drop, just a baby drop.
Oh!
Oh, that's gonna be way too much.
See, this is the opposite of what Tabitha does
in her video.
Hers is very relaxing and smooth and controlled,
and this is not that.
Maybe watch one of her videos after you watch this.
(screen beeps)
Take two.
I'm gonna start with the Liquid Smoke this time.
This should not be as difficult as I have made it.
I completely missed the teaspoon,
but it went in the bowl, so.
Now a little bit of maple syrup.
We've got some smoked paprika,
and some garlic powder, and peppers.
I made enough only for like two hamsters
to share one of these strips of bacon.
Oh man, that's not enough.
Gotta do more.
So one thing Tabitha doesn't do
is she doesn't use any salt.
I love salt, and I'm gonna use a little bit,
because I want to.
Let's try to coat these in the mixture.
Stir it up.
Now she lets this marinade sit for like two minutes,
so I'll do the same.
I am going to use an air fryer
because I wanna try to accurately recreate this
as much as possible,
but you can also use an oven if you don't have an air fryer.
So we've got this pretty evenly lined up
and spread out in here.
I'm gonna pop these in the air fryer
for just about five minutes at 380 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now I guess we'll see how they come out.
Oh, we have a little bit of a problem.
These just shriveled right up into a little,
creepy-looking ball that does not look like bacon.
This looks like something
I could pull out of the food disposal in a horror movie.
Oh, but you know what?
They're crispy.
Maybe I judged them too quickly.
Oh my goodness.
That's delightful.
They feel like carrot chips.
I would definitely put these in a wrap,
like she did in her TikTok.
Do these taste like bacon?
No, they don't.
But I don't like carrots or chips.
Don't come at me for the chips thing.
I don't care.
But I love these.
That is so good.
Aria's gonna laugh at me, though.
I think he's gonna laugh at me.
Okay, you can come out now.
Hello?
(screams)
Oh my god!
(screams)
Well, listen, I have a special recipe for you today.
- Seems fair.
- This one is particularly special,
'cause it's by someone I adore.
- Tabitha Brown?
- Yeah.
- She shot a video with Tabitha Brown
the day after we confessed our feelings to each other.
- Is that true?
- Yes.
- Do not say anything bad about Tabitha Brown.
- Why would I?
- Oh, okay.
So basically, if I hate the recipe, I should say I love it.
- You're not gonna hate it.
You can't the anything she does.
- I want people to know I graduated
with an associate's degree in Theater Arts
from my community college.
- Don't fake your reaction either.
- Okay.
So it's carrot bacon?
- Yep.
- So obviously, it doesn't look like bacon.
That looks like potpourri.
That's pretty good.
- I don't believe that.
- It's very good.
Compared to the bacon though, I'm gonna give it like 6.8.
I'm closing my eyes and trying to picture the taste of bacon
and it's not exactly there.
It does taste good, though, for what it,
I mean, it tastes good.
You can nibble on it, like watch a movie and shit.
- That's what I'm saying.
They're like chips.
- Mm-hmm, exactly.
- I don't like carrots and I like this a lot.
- Yeah, I don't like carrots really, either,
and I like these.
That's what I'll do.
I'll do a little tasty.
- I say "Oh yes."
- [Both] Oh, yes.
- [Aria] Oh, yes, oh, yes.
I want them to replace me after tasting this.
Oh yes, oh yes.
- [Merle] That is not gonna happen.
- [Aria] It should be, it should be,
it should be, it should be.
- Thank you for trying it, thank you.
(upbeat music)