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“WHOA! Now that's some thick-cut bacon!"
"Oh my gosh! Look! The top of it is gleaming!
Just looking at it is making me hungry..."
"Wait a minute. If he's copying the transfer student, then the meat he's using should be oxtail, right? So why is he bringing out bacon?"
If he's adding bacon to beef stew, there's only one thing it could be.
A GARNISH!
THE BACON IS MEANT TO BE A SIDE DISH TO THE STEW.
Yukihira's recipe is the type that calls for straining the demi-glace sauce at the end to give it a smooth texture. That means its only official ingredients are the meat and the sauce, making for a very plain dish. Garnishes of some sort are a necessity!
Beef simmered in red wine- the French dish thought to be the predecessor to beef stew- always comes with at least a handful of garnishes.
The traditional garnishes are croutons, glazed pearl onions, saut¨¦ed mushrooms...
... and bacon!
Then that means...
he's going to take that thick, juicy bacon and add it to the stew?!"
"Now he's saut¨¦ing those extra-thick slices of bacon in butter!
He's being just as efficient and delicate as always."
"Man, the smell of that bacon is so good! It's smoky, yet still somehow mellow..."
"What kind of wood chips did he use to give it that kind of scent?"
"You wanna know what I used? Easy. It's mesquite."
"Mess-keet?"
"Have you heard of it?"
"It's a small tree used for smoking that's native to Mexico and the Southern U.S. You'll hardly find it used anywhere in Japan though."
"Ibusaki!"
Mesquite is one of the most popular kinds of wood chips in Texas, the heartland of barbecues and grilling. Because of its sharp scent, it's mostly used in small quantities for smoking particularly rough cuts of meat, giving them a golden sheen.
"But I didn't stop there! I added a secret weapon to my curing compound- Muscovado sugar!
I sweetened my curing compound with Muscovado, sage, nutmeg, basil and other spices, letting the bacon marinate for a week!
It will have boosted the umami of the bacon ten times over!”
― Yuto Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 11 [Shokugeki no Souma 11]

“Ginny had named her supper club after the prominent mesquite tree that shaded the home's picturesque front garden. She adored these deciduous trees---native to Arizona---with their soft, ferny canopies that dotted the desert landscape. The species of velvet mesquite on her property routinely produced fragrant spikes of yellow flowers in April and sometimes again in August after it rained. The blossoms reminded Ginny of random bursts of sunshine. She hoped all who saw them took them as a good omen, just as she had upon discovering the house.”
― Nicole Meier, The Second Chance Supper Club