The last time I made the scallion oil from Momofuku, it was for the clams with bacon dashi. I forgot to drizzle the oil on the clams, but having that extra scallion oil in the fridge was awesome. If you like the taste of green onions, scallion oil tastes great on pretty much anything.
I love noodles or all kinds, but I haven’t had much luck in the noodle making department. I’ve come to think of myself as a noodle eater rather than a noodle maker. Generally, I think noodle making is best left to the professionals, and after attempting the ramen noodles in Momofuku, the distinction between noodle eaters and noodle makers has been cemented in my mind.
I’ve never eaten grits before, but I always imagined that they’d be like a corn-y sort of congee (rice porridge). Seeing as I love congee and I love corn, it would only be logical that I would love grits too. Chang’s shrimp and grits photo is amazing: the grits look creamy like a super thick soup.
In order to do my part in eating local, sustainable food, I decided to forgo using crawfish in the Sichuan Crawfish and instead substitute live, local prawns. Since crawfish and prawns are both crustaceans, it wasn’t too much of a stretch for me to think of the prawns as tiny, underdeveloped crawfish.
noodles in bacon dashi topped with sliced shiitakes
Sweet and smoky with a hint of the ocean, bacon dashi is something you can drink straight up, out of a mug on a rainy day, but that’s probably because I love bacon.
Let me repeat myself: I love bacon. I love the saltiness, smokiness, and crunch. If it wasn’t so bad for me I think I’d eat it everyday. When I was a little girl my mom would stop me after two slices but I’d always sneak more when she wasn’t looking. I grew up coveting those crispy strips of smoky meat.
I used to devour bacon flavoured chips, crackers and even those dried salty crunchy things they call bacon bits. I don’t eat those things anymore though. Now I just go for the good stuff, real bacon. (I don’t mean those bacon bits called “Real Bacon,” I mean bacon, the real stuff.)
konbu and bacon
There isn’t anything bacon doesn’t make better: fried rice, eggs, potatoes, and yes, dashi. Dashi is one of the cornerstones of Japanese cooking, used as the base of soup stocks and a bunch of other dishes. Traditionally made from seaweed and dried fish, Chang gives dashi a Momofukuian twist with bacon.
using up leftover bacon
Making bacon dashi is simple: 2 pieces of konbu are rinsed under running water and put in a pot to boil. Once at a boil, the konbu is steeped for ten minutes like a sea-salty tea. The konbu is removed and bacon is added, the broth simmering for half an hour. When finished, the dashi is cooled until the fat separates out and is easily skimmed off.
bacon bowl
Chang doesn’t tell you what to do with the bacon after straining it out, but it seems such a waste to not eat it, so inspired by eatnlisten.com (Update: I saw the bacon bowl at eatnlisten, but the lovely and gorgeous Jo at My Last Bite tells me she and Not Martha made them as well! And they’re super cute! Check out Not Martha’s Bacon Cups and My Last Bite’s Bacon Cups) , I decided to make a bacon bowl. The bowl came out a little wonky, maybe because the bacon was boiled, but it was crisp and rather delicious even if it was a little lacking in the bacon flavour which was now in the bacon dashi.
The result: a very slightly milky coloured broth with the subtle flavours of the sea, smoke and pork. I poured some over a tangle of ramen noodles topped with sliced shiitake mushrooms and green onions. Bacon dashi is a keeper: simple, savoury, slurp-worthy soup.
noodles in smokey, sweet bacon dashi
bacon dashi
The Momofuku name is a registered trademark of Momofuku and David Chang. I'm just using it (fair use?) to refer to his restaurant and cookbook.
All original content and photos is © 2010 copyright & all rights reserved Stephanie Le.
momofukufor2.com is where I document the little tips and tricks I learned while cooking through the Momofuku Cookbook by David Chang and Peter Meehan.
Subscribe via RSS
Follow me on Twitter