By Yvonne Maffei

Jan/Feb 2024

For a halal foodie, there’s nothing more disappointing than scanning through a beautifully photographed cookbook or recipe site only to realize that some of the ingredients listed are not halal. Bacon or pancetta listed in the initial “flavoring” process? Not gonna work. Too bad, because you really wanted to make something new for your family but are afraid the recipe won’t turn out if you skip those ingredients. 

How about those scrumptious-looking beef tacos at the Mexican food truck outside your office? You’re leery about whether there’s pork cooked on the same grill or lard in the beans. You could inquire, but maybe you’re shy or just too hungry to ask. So, you opt for the same old thing, which is fine but not as exciting as you’d like. You want to taste the world! 

What can one do in such cases? The good news is that any dish can be made halal. Let me show you how. 

Substitutes for Pork

Recipes that call for pancetta or bacon are typically used to add a rich flavor to the dish. The pork meat gives off a lot of fat and transcends the entire dish with its distinct flavoring. Lean meats just can’t do that, which is why pork is so commonly used in some cuisines. But we can achieve the same result in a very halal way.

There are so many delicious healthy halal substitutes that can be used instead of pork. And, by the way — don’t be afraid of the fat. If the animal has been fed and raised well, this fat is considered a “good fat” and an essential ingredient in making some of the most delicious dishes you’ll ever eat. It’s also great for your skin (all that collagen and such). Here are some options:

• Beef tallow. This is very hard to find, especially in halal markets, but it’s also quite easy to make yourself. Buy meat cut into large cubes on which you can clearly see the fat and render or melt it yourself. Simply sauté the meat in a pan (without any oil) on low-medium heat and let the fat melt. Remove the muscle meat and pour the melted fat into a stainless steel or oven-safe glass dish. You want to pour it into a container that can also be put in the freezer. Let it cool and harden, then refrigerate (up to 1-2 weeks) or freeze (1 month) it. When you’re ready to use it, simply add it to your sauté pan and use it like you would any other oil. This is especially good when you have a dish that you want to impart a beef flavor to but don’t have the actual muscle meat on hand. 

• Lamb or Beef “Bacon.” This is not the easiest to find, but some halal stores carry it in the frozen meat section. It’s especially nice to add to poultry dishes to “fatten” a lean bird when making a roasted chicken or a beef pot roast, as they simply don’t have a lot of fat. Layer the slices of “bacon” on top when roasting, and it will drip down onto the meat, giving it a lovely flavor. This is a classic French way of adding flavor to lean meats. Alternatively, dice the “bacon” into small pieces and use in lieu of “pancetta” in a recipe for making the sofrito, or the base flavoring. This is a classically northern Italian way of cooking, which adds flavor to many soups and stews. 

• Duck Fat. This is one of my favorite types of fats to cook with. But a halal version is also incredibly hard to find. If you are fortunate enough to find halal duck, roast the whole bird in the oven. It won’t require any oil as long as it has skin, but you’ll end up with that rendered fat similar to beef tallow because its fat melts when cooking. Save it, allow it to cool and refrigerate or freeze it just like the beef tallow. I love to use duck fat when making roasted or sauteed potatoes — the flavor is incredible and rich. Use it just as you would any other oil when cooking. 

• Chicken Fat. This may be the easiest one to get your hands on in a halal market. I suggest that you buy it if you find it, because it’s much harder to collect quite a bit of chicken fat unless you make your own stock from the carcass and/or the feet — and even then you usually can’t get very much from just one chicken. Once you’ve made the broth, allow it to cool and scoop out the hardened fat on top. Save and refrigerate or freeze. 

All of these suggestions, combined with making your own broth from bones, will give your dishes high-end restaurant-quality flavor at home without having to worry about all of the issues of non-halal meat in your food. 

Substitutes for Alcohol

Another pain point for those who follow a halal diet or who simply want to avoid alcohol altogether is that there are ways around all of the alcohol found in both savory and sweet dishes, whether in restaurants or packaged foods. 

Let me start by saying that no, alcohol does not burn off in cooking, at least not completely –– a fact proven by scientists. “Depending on the cooking method and how much alcohol is used, anywhere from 4 to 85 percent of the alcohol may remain,” writes Tara Parker-Pope (“Is it true that alcohol burns off during cooking?” The Washington Post, Nov. 10, 2023). You can see a chart in the “My Halal Kitchen” cookbook with the percentage of alcohol cooked off per amount used — and it never goes to zero. With this knowledge, I don’t feel comfortable consuming a dish that was cooked with alcohol even if a chef tells me it has burned off completely. 

My rule of thumb is to find a substitute with the same flavor base as the original dish. For example, a dish that calls for red wine gets a high-quality grape juice (not from concentrate) as a substitute, using close to or just a little less than the amount of wine used in the original recipe. If a recipe includes white wine, get a white grape juice substitute. I’ve seen many recipes suggest substituting vinegar, or chicken or beef broth, for the wine or simply using water instead, but I don’t think doing so will make the dish as fabulous as if you use the halal juices. 

For things like almond, orange, citrus and other flavor extracts, I use bakery emulsion as a substitute. For vanilla extract, I use the real bean, no-alcohol vanilla extract or vanilla powder. 

Things You May Think Are Halal, But Might Not Be

• Tiramisu. This classic Sicilian dessert is fantastic and literally “picks you up” as the name suggests, due to the inclusion of espresso coffee. The thing is that sometimes rum or brandy is added to the dish. Use alcohol-free vanilla extract, vanilla powder or fresh vanilla beans instead. Additionally, some store-bought tiramisu products contain gelatin in order to create a gel-like uniform shape, and that gelatin may be derived from pork or non-zabiha animals. Make it at home and you don’t even need the gelatin at all. Get my version of the super quick tiramisu recipe here: https://myhalalkitchen.com/classic-tiramisu/.

• Bread. I’m a huge advocate of cooking from scratch because I’m a huge believer in self-reliance and survival skills — and bread-making is one of them. I do understand, however, that for most people it’s not practical to make bread every couple of days. The problem with store-bought bread is that it contains so many unnecessary ingredients. Bread only really needs flour, water, salt, yeast and, in my case, olive oil. The average store-bought bread is also made with some sketchy ingredients like GMO wheat, and more often than not, something called a “dough conditioner.” 

When made commercially, dough conditioners can be made up of chemicals and other agents, one of which can be derived from duck feathers or human hair (L-cysteine). Not very savory, and not very halal. This is why I’m incredibly careful and protective of the source of my bread and have altogether started making more and more of my own, just to be safe. You can find my super easy country bread recipe in the “My Halal Kitchen” cookbook. 

Recommendations 

I recommend that everyone stock up on the things that help you keep a halal kitchen and make cooking so much easier for you to do regularly. A few of my favorite items are the following:

• Agar Agar. Used for making homemade-flavored gelatins and thickening soups. 

• Vanilla Powder. Most Middle Eastern and Mediterranean markets carry this in their baking sections. 

• No-Alcohol Vanilla Extract. The one I use the most is found at Trader Joe’s, but you can also go online and search for several brands. 

• Not-from Concentrate Grape or White Grape Juices. You’ll need these if you’re making traditional French or Italian cuisine. I prefer to get the small juice boxes, so you don’t end up wasting a whole gallon of juice or drop the leftover juice into ice cube trays and freeze. This makes it easier to pop them into dishes as needed, too. 

Yvonne Maffei, MA, is a food and travel writer, independent researcher, cookbook author and entrepreneur. She is the founder of the first website on halal food and cooking, MyHalalKitchen.com, which seeks to make global cuisine halal and spread the concept of culinary diplomacy as a means of bringing everyone to the table. Her cookbooks include “My Halal Kitchen” (2016) and “Summer Ramadan Cooking” (2013). Maffei divides her time between the U.S. and Canada — and anywhere else she can travel around the world.

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