I Sea Bacon: cooking with dulse

We have a bit of a thing about seaweed at Edinburgh Foody. It’s not just that Amy works for Mara Seaweed, but also that I love the textures and flavours of the stuff, from bright green crunchy wakame to near-black sheets of nori. A while back I reviewed Seamore’s I Sea Pasta and today I’ll introduce you to the innovative company’s next product: I Seamore Bacon

Tofu-fried rice topped with crunchy I Seamore Bacon.

I Seamore Bacon is a bag of dried strips of dulse. It can be eaten directly out of the bag: pieces are tangled together so you get to rip them apart, a pleasing start. I Sea Bacon makes a nice snack, filling your mouth with salt and sea, pleasantly chewy, moreish. And good for you.

I Sea Bacon three ways: burgundy snackable seaweed, tender boiled and crunchy fried.

Fried, the dulse goes green and crispy. They do go intensely salty, which is very pleasing with the crunch, and welcome in salads or sandwiches. Don’t let it sit with wet ingredients for long: the seaweed absorbs moisture and goes chewy again. It still tastes great but the crunchy texture is fun. Crisp, serve, eat! (Or store in an airtight container for a few days. That works too.) To cook it, heat up a good amount of oil and shallow fry for a few seconds on either side until green. Take care not to burn it. Drain on a kitchen towel or kitchen roll and that’s it. It’s quick and makes a really interesting topping on anything from sandwiches to canapés. It’d be brilliant liberally crumbled on top of a poached or fried egg.

I’ve also used strips in my favourite seaweed and tofu stew where they add a lovely seaweed flavour. The soaked or quickly boiled seaweed is tender and delicate, a perfect addition to broths and noodle dishes. It adds a different texture, not as slippery as wilted spinach, more like noodles. If you drop the dulse in at the last moment, it softens quickly but retains more of the sea-flavour in itself. (I sometimes do both: add some to the boiling broth, then tear a few strips into the bowl as I serve. Best of both worlds.)

A little goes a long way

I Sea Bacon comes in 75 gram bags. That’s about 10 servings. With seaweed, a small amount always goes a long way. A small handful of the dried dulse adds flavour to a broth, and my standard snack-handful weighs in at just under 5 grams. It’s satisfying in small amounts, really versatile and fun to cook with.

My eating habits are changing and although I’m unlikely to start snacking on locusts anytime soon, I’m eating a lot more seaweed than only a couple of years ago and enjoying it. Keep the good ideas coming!