Rolled my first fatty (w/ Qview)

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dravery

Fire Starter
Original poster
May 5, 2011
32
10
Seattle, Washington
A year and some change ago I heard about the over-hyped (but awe-inspiring, to the uninitiated) 'Bacon Explosion'.  It seemed to me the sort of thing that only some kind of hyper-talented meat smoking fanatic would do.  In other words, it seemed like the most awesome thing in the world.  Bottom line, I knew I could never do that.

I mean...  Who weaves bacon into a mat!?!  And then smokes it?  I had never smoked anything (in a smoker) at this point.  A few months back I picked up a smoker.  Ironically enough, I started smoking meat right after I quit smoking cigarettes.   I'm sure Freud would find this to be quite significant.

Today, on a whim but after much research here at the smoking meat forums dot com, I decided it was time to do it.  Weaving bacon turned out to be easy enough, and I built my first fattie.  Spoiler alert:  It turned out to be the most delicious thing I've ever tasted.

I started by weaving a 5 x 6 mat of thick cut bacon.  I applied a generous amount of black Pepper to the bacon.  Then I squashed and flattened a tube of Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage on to the bacon.  Then I diced up some Bacon Spam to put on there.  I then added mushrooms, a little bit of onion, and some mozzerella.  Rolled it up (special thanks to the guy who suggested saran wrap)  applied some mustard and a rub, and bathed it in the delicious embrace of mesquite smoke for several hours.

I did end up putting it in the oven at 350 for 40 minutes to firm up the internal bacon, but only after it had smoked for 5 hours.

The mozzarella really pulled its weight in this mix.  it sort of bound everything together but kind of moderated the flavors - while absorbing a great deal of smoke.  Freaking delicious.  Next time I'll add more mushrooms and onions.  

Did I promise pictures?  OK.

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As you can see in this last pic, the bacon was a bit soggy.  Being one who prefers firm meat, I put it in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 and it promptly disappeared thereafter.
 
Awesome fattie!!

I never saw anything like them til I came here either...

  Thanks for the great pics too!!

  Have a great day!!

  Craig
 
It occurred to me, I get to name this thing.  I dub it - the MOAB.  The mother of all gutbombs.

And if someone else has used that name, I don't care.  I'm using it anyway.
 
Awesome first fatty, great pics too!Wow 5 hours, try cooking the "internal bacon first" that should save you quite a bit of time.Thanks for Sharing.
 
Awesome first fatty, great pics too! Wow 5 hours, try cooking the "internal bacon first" that should save you quite a bit of time. Thanks for Sharing.
Thanks Squib.  In this case, the internal bacon is the external bacon - just rolled into itself.  It might not be a bad idea to fry the bacon up a little before weaving it - give it a head start on being firm.  I am concerned that this would prevent the meat from taking on as much smoke.  I thought I read somewhere that meat becomes 'flavor locked' as it becomes done - hence the importance of low temperatures

I think the place where there is room for improvement is temperature manipulation.  I kept the temperature in the smoker right around 190 for the first 4 hours or so.  Then I brought the temperature to about 220 so that my roast would hit an internal temperature of 170.  I am a firm believer in the slow cooking method, but next time around after my slow smoke, I should probably aim to bring the temperature up to at least 325 for the last hour - hour and a half.  Conversely, I could have just given it more time in the smoker.  It seems like patience is always a virtue with these things.

Glad to have gotten this first one out of the way.  I'm already planning out my next batch of fatties.  I've got room on the smoker for at least 6 of these, and there are a lot of textures and flavors I'd like to experiment with.
 
Ahh...  A little more research shows that I wasn't supposed to roll the bacon into the fatty.  It's not supposed to be a spiral roll.  Evidently, you are supposed to roll the sausage and fillings into a log first, and THEN roll the bacon lattice onto the outside layer...  Then you end up with firm delicious cooked bacon.  Instead of soggy, legally edible but intuitively questionable bacon.

This is a good thing for a few reasons.

1.  I like my bacon to be unquestionably cooked.  I'm not just talking about internal temperature here.  I want it to have a cooked texture.  the bacon I rolled into the mix did not pass that criteria until after I baked it.

2.  I completely screwed up the construction of my fatty, and it still turned out amazing.

For anyone who has never made one of these things, the one thing that doesn't show up in the picture is the flavor.  I had imagined that it would be too much of a meat overload.  Greasy and harshly over bacon-y.  I know what sausage tastes like.  I know what bacon tastes like.  Something magical happens while you're slow smoking this thing over several hours.  It tastes much better than the sum of its parts.  You could cook sausage and wrap some bacon around it on the stove, but it wouldn't be the same.  Everything takes on a phenomenal amount of smoke, and all those flavors intermingle.  Worried about all that grease?  Guess what - cooking it for several hours gives a lot of that grease a chance to drip away into your waterpan.  I'm not saying it ain't greasy.  but it's not as greasy as you might think.  

I can't wait to cook my next one.  

Up next:  Beef tenderloin tips marinated in port wine overnight, double wrapped in bacon with whole garlic cloves and coarse chopped onion.
 
The real beauty of most "failed" smokes is that they turn out very edible, very delicious, and it is a learning curve that hopefully never ends. When you perfect one thing to your taste, it can be transformed by changing spices or techniques to then become a piece of perfection for another's taste.

Keep smokin!
 
Looks like it turned out well. One of the best parts of smoking is that we still get to eat it even if we do it wrong. Looks like yours turned out good
 
Ahh...  A little more research shows that I wasn't supposed to roll the bacon into the fatty.  It's not supposed to be a spiral roll.  Evidently, you are supposed to roll the sausage and fillings into a log first, and THEN roll the bacon lattice onto the outside layer...  Then you end up with firm delicious cooked bacon.  Instead of soggy, legally edible but intuitively questionable bacon.

This is a good thing for a few reasons.

1.  I like my bacon to be unquestionably cooked.  I'm not just talking about internal temperature here.  I want it to have a cooked texture.  the bacon I rolled into the mix did not pass that criteria until after I baked it.

2.  I completely screwed up the construction of my fatty, and it still turned out amazing.

For anyone who has never made one of these things, the one thing that doesn't show up in the picture is the flavor.  I had imagined that it would be too much of a meat overload.  Greasy and harshly over bacon-y.  I know what sausage tastes like.  I know what bacon tastes like.  Something magical happens while you're slow smoking this thing over several hours.  It tastes much better than the sum of its parts.  You could cook sausage and wrap some bacon around it on the stove, but it wouldn't be the same.  Everything takes on a phenomenal amount of smoke, and all those flavors intermingle.  Worried about all that grease?  Guess what - cooking it for several hours gives a lot of that grease a chance to drip away into your waterpan.  I'm not saying it ain't greasy.  but it's not as greasy as you might think.  

I can't wait to cook my next one.  

Up next:  Beef tenderloin tips marinated in port wine overnight, double wrapped in bacon with whole garlic cloves and coarse chopped onion.


Dude, sorry I didn't catch that sooner. I thought it was stuffed with bacon and wrapped with bacon, if you stuff with bacon it should be pre-cooked.

I was wondering what the heck you were talking about when you said the internal bacon is the external bacon.

And you are correct... the bacon is wrapped on the outside, not rolled inside like a jelly roll.
 
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