Yesterday I made the Bacon and Egg Fried Rice from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s _The Wok_ cookbook.

Kenji calls for “bacon or Chinese bacon,” saying

I like to use Chinese bacon, which is typically cured a little longer and has a smokier flavor with warm spices like cinnamon and star anise. You can find it at most large Asian supermarkets in the meat section near the Chinese dried sausage. If using Chinese bacon, make sure to cut off the rind, as it will come out inedibly tough in a quick-cooking dish like this.

Granted, I don’t often shop the meat sections of the Asian groceries I visit, but I’ve never seen Chinese bacon before. I opted for using regular, old USian bacon.

Like the Basic Vegetable and Egg Fried Rice, the first thing the recipe directs is making an omelet with lightly beaten egg, which is then removed for later. This remains a unique step to Kenji’s recipes compared to my other fried rice recipes.

The end result was tasty, and I would certainly eat it again. My wife described it as “interesting,” saying it’s not like a usual fried rice. She said she would not request this one again. The kids didn’t try it. My daughter doesn’t eat meat so I made a simple batch of our favorite Thai fried rice for her, and my son opted to eat that one also.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.