Bacon Broth

Bacon is one of the most celebrated ingredients. The smokey meaty flavour is able to lift the taste of your dish to another level. You can use it almost anywhere (not vegetarian food of course!) and it'll usually turn out lovely. I have been wondering what else I can do with bacon apart from breakfast, rolling up a whole chunk of sausage and chicken breast within layers of it, or just crisping them up for a savoury snack. I have found another use for the much loved cured meat–broth preparation.

As with other broths, this one is packed with flavour and goes well with noodles. I'm giving this version of the broth more of a Japanese edge by incorporating katsuobushi and kombu.

Cha Soba served with warm bacon broth and topped with bacon 

Ingredients:
1. 5 strips of back bacon, sliced up into 1-inch wide pieces
2. 3 pieces of Kombu (kelp)
3. 50g Katsuobushi (smoked skipjack tuna)
4. A small thumb of ginger, sliced
5. 1l of water

Steps
1. Add all the ingredients into the water in a small stock pot and bring to boil
2. Skim the froth as and when needed
3. Simmer for at least 1 hour
4. Taste and season if needed
5. Serve

Note:
1. Katsuobushi can be hard to source. A good and cheaper alternative is bonito.
2. Never season the broth right from the start. Allow the flavour to build up and season with salt when it is almost done.
3. You can prepare the stock in advance and refrigerate it. Heat it up and use when needed.

Before serving, you may want to fish out the pieces of bacon and brown them in a hot frying pan. The browned bacon drizzled with sesame oil can be used as a topping to liven up the plain noodle soup.