Smoked Fatty, with Bacon!

Fatty's ready for sauce

Yesterday I made a smoked fatty wrapped in a bacon weave. A fatty is just another name for a BBQ'd log of breakfast sausage, in this case Jimmy Dean's Spicy Sausage. I smeared the sausage with plain yellow mustard and liberally covered it with my homemade pork rub. I put in the fridge for a few hours to let it think about what I was about about to do to it.

About an hour before I was planning to put it in the smoker I took the sausage out of the fridge and made the bacon weave. It turned out a 5x6 weave covered it perfectly.

Bacon weave is go!

Fatty ready for the smoker

I put it on the smoker with lump charcoal and hickory and apple wood chunks.

Smokin'!

The first picture up above shows the fatty after about three hours. Then it was time to sauce the puppy!

Saucy!

I used O'Baby BBQ Sauce. Does anyone know if they're still in business? The website has a 2013 copyright date and the shop link goes to a dead Etsy page...

Anyway, another 30 minutes or so in the smoker and then the fatty was ready!

And there it is, the finished fatty with an extra drizzle of O'Baby's.

And it was MINE, ALL MINE!

Look at that shine!

You can't see it, but there's a smoke ring

MINE!

Keyword: Grilled

Grilled andouille sausage, grilled onion, and grilled tomato.

Meatzapalooza 2012

This Memorial Day weekend we hosted what I called Meatzapalooza 2012. On the menu was some of what you expect, hamburgers and hot dogs, and some of what you don't expect, the infamous bacon explosion and a traditional low country boil. I think some veggies made a token appearance but, really, who cares? It's all about the meat.

I had a couple of other items planned but we got so busy I put them off. Don't worry, you'll read about them soon enough.

Speaking of busy, the only picture I got was of the smoker cooking the bacon explosion. Yes, that is the same smoker as the one in my blog header. I recently sanded and repainted it, and restained the wood handles and shelf slats. Looks pretty good, doesn't it?

I've written about how I made my first bacon explosion, so I won't go into the details again. I will say I used a bit too much Italian sausage (just a bit, really!) and the bacon weave wouldn't quite cover the sausage roll. So I had to slap some more slices of bacon over the gaps to make it complete. Think of it as bacon spackle. I assembled the bacon explosion several hours ahead of time. Everything had time to set up and so it all held together when I put it in the smoker. Besides, how bad can be it be if you have to add more bacon? To anything?

The low country boil was pretty basic. Baby red potatoes, corn, smoked sausage, and shrimp in a pot with Old Bay seasoning and Zatarian's Crab Boil. Basic, but great flavors.

Both the bacon explosion and the low country boil were hits this year. I bet they will be again next year.

Half Smokes

If you live in or visit Washington, DC, you can't help but notice the street vendors. And the main item on most of their menus is the half smoke. According to Wikipedia, the half smoke is a half beef, half pork smoked sausage, bigger in diameter and spicier than a hot dog. The etymology of the name is uncertain but the most common explanation is its half-and-half meet composition. It's served on a bun, often with spicy mustard and sauteed onions. You can also get it with chili.

I simmer my half smokes in a good beer for about 15 minutes (like cooking with wine, don't cook with a beer you wouldn't drink), then finish them off on the grill. I cook several slices of bacon, then saute the onions in the same pan. Spread spicy mustard on a toasted potato roll, add the half smoke, then top with the onions and crumbled bacon. Enjoy.

Half smokes are packed in natural casing so they give you a nice pop when you bite into them. The next time you visit Washington be sure to try a half smoke.

Recipe: Grilled Sausage and Vegetables

This is a quick and easy sausage and veggie on the grill recipe. The vegetable mix is really whatever you have on hand. You will need a grill pan or grill wok for this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Smoked Sausage
• 1 pint Sliced Mushrooms
• 1 sliced Onion
• 2 sliced Bell Peppers (read and green for color)
• 1 pint Baby Corn
• 1 pint Cherry Tomatoes
• 3-4 Garlic Cloves, rough chopped
• 1/2 T Adobo Seasoning
• Salt (not pictured) and Pepper to taste
• 2-4 T Olive Oil

Procedure:

Preheat the grill for direct cooking.

Mix the vegetables, oil, and seasonings together and set aside.

Cut the sausage into 3-4 inch pieces. This makes them easier to handle on the grill.

Cook the sausage pieces on the grill until they have plumped up and the skin has good marks. Take off the grill and cut into 1/2 - 1 inch bite size pieces.

Put a grill pan on the grate and let heat for several minutes.

Put the vegetables in the grill pan and let cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the sausage to the mix.


Cook on the grill, turning occasionally, until vegetables are cooked through.

Enjoy.

My First Bacon Explosion

The bacon explosion burst onto the scene about three years ago by the guys over at BBQ Addicts. They have detailed instructions on how to build your own so I won't waste time repeating them here. I'll just feature some highlights of my first bacon explosion experience. The end result is pictured above.

About two and a half years ago we had a big Fourth of July cookout (well, more like a close to Fourth of July cookout). I wanted to do something special so I drafted my daughter Betsy to help assemble this pork extravaganza.

We made Italian sausage for the filling and used center cut bacon for the the weave and bacon crumbles. Getting the weave tight is critical to bacon explosion success. Our handiwork is the first picture on the left. Betsy put her pie making skills to good use for this.

The next key to assembling the bacon explosion is the roll. Like the weave, it must be tight. The next photo is our sausage roll. All that's left is to wrap the bacon weave around it. Then it's off to the smoker!

Time to start smoking. Three hours to go and then it's bacon bliss...

Wait for it...

Can you stand the antici... pation?

Three hours later, it's ready for the sauce and then it's time to eat!