Very dumb Fatty Qs

[jehoric]

Hey everyone.

Just started smoking a couple weeks ago on my BGE, I'm loving it and decided to branch off from the chicken/pork butt to Beef Brisket and Fatties.

Unfortunately, I sort of did this on a whim and I want to cook them tomorrow... but I have to leave for work in 3 minutes! So I haven't spent more than 20 minutes split between searching the Brisket and Fatty forum, thought I'd post my dumb questions and hope someone felt nice today :)

1.) I got a killer deal on a 4lb chub from Costco... I assume that I can make this into a fatty, but I don't know if I should be dividing it into 1lb peices (that seems to be standard operating procedure) or if I can/should try to do the whole thing at once.

2.) For each size (or just 1lb if the 4lb thing is a terrible idea) what is a rough cooking time estimate? I'm a dedicated temp man, not a time man, but it helps my planning if I can figure to put this on for 2 hours per lb or if it's something different.

3.) For doneness, do I even go by a temp or just when it looks done?

Sorry to inundate you with dumb questions, but I'd greatly appreciate answers to these so I can put them on tomorrow. Thanks!

(P.S. I'll post Qview pics if possible when I'm done... I have some for the pork that I was going to post but the cook took 13 hours and weren't done til 11pm, so the picture quality was pretty poor)

 

[rivet]

No dumb questions, bud!

1) I've made 1LB and 1.5LB fatties. With 1.5 pounders, you can't do a good bacon weave cause it wont reach all the way around, so I just roll it in strips and secure them with toothpicks. I suppose you could drape the weave over the fattie like a blanket. A 4 pounder is pretty huge. You might want to give smaller fatties a try to gain experience before making the monster.

2) At 275 F when I'm smoking a 1LB one takes about 2 hours. When the bacon is done and crispy outside it is done inside, though you can temp it. 165 F is what you want and mine always get to 165 internal before the baconn is cooked the way we like it.

3) See number 2

4) Good luck to you and post pics!!

 

[mballi3011]

The fattie is really up to you how big you want it. I have made one alittle over four pounds but that was a boo boo gone good. I personally use 2 lbs per fattie but I'm feeding a bunch of people. Smoking is put it in and smoke at 225-250 and take it to 165 internal temp. Filling is also up you go crazy and off the wall to the basic breakfast, pizza, pancakes the opions are unlimited. So go for it and don't forget the Q

 

[fire it up]

Sounds like you got some advice worth following already.
Personally I would keep them around the 1-2lb size.
Fatties are one of those things that freeze, thaw, freeze over and over again and are just as good everytime so you could always just roll up a few different ones and freeze the leftovers for snacking later on.
Sliced and fried in a pan then on a biscuit with cheese and egg, best breakfast sammie you will ever have.

And of course, no dumb questions on here.

 

[jehoric]

Thanks guys!

I'll stick with a 1lber to start things off. I get off work early on Saturday so if the first turns out well, there might be a 2nd the day after!

Anyone ever put Jalepenos in their fatty? I could've sworn I saw a picture with one but can't find it now. I'm think Jalepenos (probably just 1, to be safe), onion, cheese, and maybe pepperoni or ham in there. Anyways, thanks for the advice, I feel a lot better about this now than I did earlier today!

(Now, that brisket still has me scared!)

 

[willkat98]

Sure, but when running low on time and don't want to stuff, I will opt for the Jimmy Dean Spicy (or Bold or whatever). Pretty nice heat to it, and I can add more with a pepper dusting if it needs kick.

Onion cheese and pepponi is like a pizza fattie, which I know I read about here at some point.

The fattie is the perfect vehicle for experimentation, because even failures are usually winners in the testing/tasting portion of the process!!

Good luck!

 

[jehoric]

I've now discovered that the Fatty is not meant to be rolled by the faint of heart. Or, rather, that it's rather more difficult than a burrito (which I can't roll, either). I checked out the sticky, which helped, but my Fatty seems to be made of meat that does not stick together well at all - I think next time I'll buy the Jimmy Dean, just to learn if it is me or the meat. I'm using a brand with a name that was something like Taratizano or something like that.

Unfortunately, not quite enough room on my egg for the brisket with foil and my Fatty, so I have to wait until I am done foiling.

 

[fmcowboy]

So when checking for doneness, 165 Degress it loos like, your temp probe shopuld be in the filling?

 

[rivet]

Yes exactly. However if your ingredients inside are already cooked you don't need to temp. Once the bacon around the outside is cooked fully, everything is ready.

 

[pignit]

I found that when I'm rolling a fatty and using the gallon ziplock, just a tad over a pound works great.
Here is a link to my pepper fatty. I should have put it in the fatty forum but it ended up in a weekend smoke. I used pepperoni, roasted chili's, jalapeno, banana peppers, and hot pepper jack cheese and cream cheese. It was awesome.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=78902