Reflections on the Throwdown

[buck wheezer]

Wow! What a great time. Just when you thought the internet was a vast wasteland of filth and inane babble, you find a fatty throwdown. Lots of creativity, encouragement, and community; that's what I'm trying to encourage at the church, and you folks nailed it!

Things I've discovered/learned:
1. As much as I like BACON! I think it can overpower the rest of the fatty. Perhaps I need to find something milder or with less of smoked flavor to begin with.
2. Ground beef gets too dry too fast. Need to figure out how to keep it from getting so dry. Maybe more of a meatloaf approach?
3. There's something to be said for simple salt and pepper in seasoning meat before smoking. Let the meat speak for itself, but simple S&P amplifies what's there.
4. Get wider plastic wrap. Those narrow rolls at the supermarket just don't cut it when you have to tighten up a fatty.
5. The family that cooks together, smokes together, shoots photos together, whatever together, stays together. Kudos to all who got their kids involved. My boys are begging to plan, prepare, and smoke their own fatties; I just might let them after this.
6. There's no denying that we all need a little more encouragement in anything we do. Fatties won't change your life, but if we all encouraged each other a bit more in the important areas of life (parenting, finances, serving, marriage, etc.) we'd all take more risks to excel in those things.

For what it's worth.

 

[cinnamonkc]

I completely Agree with everything you just wrote, but especially 5 and 6. Fortunately my son loves to cook and be in the kitchen, but it was the throwdown this weekend that really got him pumped and involved. I wish I would have read the time zones better and not blown it on the turn in time because he would have been stoked to see his fatty mentioned in any of the final threads. But even with that, I think he's more determined than ever to make an award winning fatty! :0-)
We were closer this weekend than ever, and I owe it to this throwdown!
Thanks to everyone involved!!

 

[seboke]

Very well put Buck!!

Some things I have learned that may help...

1. Buy the cheapest, fattiest bacon you can find for your wraps jobs if you do not want the bacon flavor to overpower the fatty. This will NOT work if you're looking for an awesome weave... The junk I used for my throwdown fatties was 10 paks for $10 and might have had a total of 1.2 lb of actual meat. It was VERY thin and IMHO was only good for creating a fatty shell.

2. Mix in a little sausage to your low-fat content "other" meats for the fatties. Erain did the salmon one and used a gelatin as a binder.

3. Gotta love S & P! Keep it simple...

4. I did Dude's plastic bag method for the first time in the throwdown. Simply could not get the things rolled. So I cut the bags open, covered with the tiny plastic wrap, and re-smashed the flat with my rolling pin (a can of Pam), making it into a rectangle versus a square. Added stuffing and made longer thinner rolls. But YES, would love to get my hands on some wide plastic wrap! I only had about 1/2 to one inch overlap on the ends when twisting the fatty.

5. It was absolutely amazing for my 17 y/o son to get so passionate about wanting to help with the throwdown entries. I mean everything from the mundane prep work, to "go gimme the chicken one...", to "get the door for me." He hung in till the end and received the first slice of each fatty. He considered that ample reward!

6. Well put here too Buck. See how many great people, mostly strangers, came together for some fellowship over something as simple as a meatloaf?

 

[tbucher1218]

Agree 100%

Unfortunately my 15 yr daughter was at her dads this weekend, but she did call me from the grocery store and asked if I needed a particular ingredient that I had been looking for. She is as obsessive as Chad and I. Once she got home and tasted the fatties that I made, she is already thinking of things to do next.

 

[cinnamonkc]

Something else I learned in the chat room...you can use roasted peppers as the wrap to keep the meat moist instead of bacon. I was doing a low fat turkey Fatty and didn't want to use the bacon but was afraid turkey would just vaporize because of it's low moisture and fat content.
The peppers work like a charm! Also banana leaves...

 

[richoso1]

Bulls Eye Buck Wheezer.

 

[white cloud]

Ok buck you just started the kids corner fatty throw down. That would be cool. Kids rock and have quite the imagination.

 

[cinnamonkc]

That's a great idea White Cloud!!!

 

[flyin'illini]

Well said, Buck.

I was the subject of many a rolled eye over here.

 

[vince]

this past weekend was fun, I did learn something also, Don't make all your from all greasy foods The Italian sausage, salami, peperoni and then bacon wrap makes for one greasy meal.


If we ever do it again I will be in that throw down too!

 

[caprid]

Great Post BW. I'm just a newbie, been lurking for awhile. The amount of knowledge and help here is unsurpassed. The Fattie thing will keep me with ideas for some time to come. It was alot of fun. Time to move on to bigger dead animals on the grates though.

I thank You All,

-Caprid-

 

[ronp]

Well, I learned a couple of things.

1. How to roll a fatty because of a couple tutorials.

2. Take a chance. I had NO idea what maple syrup or any pancake syrup would do as a rub. I thought it would carmelize to the point of turning black. It had a nice brown sheen to it and added just a little sweetness with out being over powering. More
experimentation on that.

And, all of the above, this is a great community we have here.

 

[smoking gun]

This was my first exposure to Fatties of this nature and to be honest a lot of them looked absolutely delicious while a few others (for me) bordered on making me nauseous just looking at the pics. lol It's great seeing all the work and creativity you all put into your creations. I'm still amazed.

 

[williamzanzinger]

I learned something very valueable about myself this weekend. I dont think I care for breakfast sausage.

 

[erain]

BW pretty much says it all, and the pics (it did happen) of all fatties now have the mind goin, not to mention the pics of family members involved and maybe helping spread this craft on to a newer generation. great job to bbqg and all fatty makers!!!!