Ramen broth is traditionally built on a foundation of dashi, the seaweed-and-dried fish broth that is the cornerstone of Japanese cooking. It’s amazing stuff: smoky, a little fishy, loaded with natural MSG.
But when we first opened Noodle Bar and for years afterwards, it was impossible for me to find katsuo-bushi (the traditional dried fish flakes) of a quality I was happy with. (I’ve mellowed on that point over the years.) So I got to thinking about how else to get that smoky flavour, that meaty MSG that katsuo-bushi adds. And what’s the smoky meat most common to American kitchens and cooking? One you can get a good-quality version of almost anywhere? Bacon.