# My first pizza fattie, with lots of Q-view



## que-ball (Jul 1, 2009)

Here's my first attempt at a pizza fattie. First, the ingredient spread. This pick always worries me, because I feel locked in.


The JD Italian rolled out in a ziplock.

The mozzarella cheese.

Pizza sauce, pepperoni, and diced onions added.  Oops! The pepperoni isn't in this pic, but trust me--I used too much!

With the summer trowdown coming up, I thought I would show a step by step bacon weave. I started with seven strips laid out horizontally on saran wrap. Seven strips are as wide as one strip is long, and it's the right size weave to cover a fattie based on a 1# chub.
I pealed the ends of every other slice back, and laid the first verical slice over the remaining horizontals.
I replaced the strands that had been pealed back, folded the other horizontal strips back over my first vertical, and laid down my second vertical slice.

Repeat for the third vertical slice,

and so on until the weave is complete.

I rolled the fattie up in the bacon weave using the saran wrap, tucked the ends of the 'tootsie roll' under, and put it in the freezer to firm up.



Sorry, no pics while on the smoke, but here it is coming off (176*). I ended up with a Denver omelet in a bag fattie too (green pepper, cheddar, onion, eggs), but didn't get any pics of the prep on that one. The pizza fattie is on the bottom.

And sliced for the plate.

It tasted good, but the bacon was chewier than I like, and I way underestimated how much fat would render out of the pepperoni. My usual 'drip pan' of a piece of aluminum foil pressed into the bottom oven grate of my fridge smoker to make a bunch of depressions between the wires just didn't cut it this time. No blowout, but the little depressions filled up, excess grease ran off the edges, and got all over my smokewood pan, burner, and the floor of the fridge. I've got some cleanup to do before my next smoke!


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## the dude abides (Jul 1, 2009)

Nice looking fattie.  Great tutorial on the weave too.


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## irishteabear (Jul 1, 2009)

Nice job.  Sorry to hear about the mess it made.


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## fire it up (Jul 1, 2009)

Having the mess sucks, but much did you enjoy it?
Gotta give you points for the nice job with the weave, and nice slice of cheese and dice of onions.


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## coloradosmoke (Jul 1, 2009)

Tim, points for the instructions on the weave...
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






.  What kind of wood did you use for the smoke?  Curious about the omelette, did you pre-scramble the eggs?


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## jerseyhunter (Jul 1, 2009)

After seeing this I'm going to pull an Italian chub out of the freezer now. Great job. I think you'd get a crispier bacon if you use Oscar Meyer. A bit more expensive but better results.


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## meatball (Jul 1, 2009)

I was wondering how you could have "too much pepperoni" but that makes sense that it would do that, I guess, pepperoni does get pretty greasy. Thanks for the heads up and letting us know about that outcome. Everything looks mighty tasty!


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## billbo (Jul 1, 2009)

Great job on the Qview! The mess stinks but we all learned from that.


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## bbrock (Jul 1, 2009)

Looks really good I want to smoke a fattie now...Thanks for the pics....


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## herkysprings (Jul 1, 2009)

Excellent weave tutorial. Shows how easy it is!

Yes more fatties! MORE! More BACON! Yesssss!


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## mballi3011 (Jul 1, 2009)

Nice job on the fattie and good choice on filling. Fine job my man.


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## slanted88 (Jul 1, 2009)

Dang... thinkin for first time ya nailed it!


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## cajunsmoke13 (Jul 1, 2009)

Nice fattie,..couple of slices please...


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## que-ball (Jul 2, 2009)

Glad you folks liked the bacon weave tutorial. I've learned alot from reading this forum, and glad I could pay it forward. For anyone who's still scared of doing one, this was only about my fourth try ever, and the weave took only about five minutes to do. That includes washing my hands after laying each slice so I could snap my Q-view! 

The bacon brand was an experiment, on sale at Walmart for $2/lb or some such. I could have crisped it up more by turning my smoker temp up to 300* for a bit, but I was getting hungry! 

I used hickory chunks for this smoke, another experiment. It gave a slightly milder smoke flavor than the mesquite chips I've used previously. 

For my omelet fattie, I put my ingredients (raw eggs, diced onion, green pepper, ham, and cheddar cheese) in a quart freezer bag and boiled it until the eggs were done, about 20 minutes. It's called an "omelet-in-a-bag", and has become a popular way to cook breakfast around here. I actually did two bags at once, one for breakfast right away and the other set aside for my fattie.

I think my next fattie will be a Philly cheesesteak one over cherry or apple wood, but it's going to have to wait. I still have that nastiness to clean out of my smoker, and I just got a card that I have a package to pick up at the post office. I'm thinking it's my Curley's order, and if that's the case I'll be rubbing up some venion roasts with their prime rib rub per MossyMo's advice. I'll keep y'all posted!


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## que-ball (Jul 2, 2009)

Fast service from Curley's!  Ordered 6/27, shipped 6/29, on my doorstep 7/1 if I had been home to receive it.

Let the fun begin!


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## tasunkawitko (Jul 2, 2009)

very nice blow-by-blow, tim! points!


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## chorizodahitman (Jul 6, 2009)

for sure going to do the pizza one for football season.  Only question, how long did you smoke them for?


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## que-ball (Jul 6, 2009)

I smoked it for about three hours total, and my smoker temp averaged about 220*, though it varied +/- 15*.  Final internal temperature was 176*.   Next time I think I would precook the pepperoni (microwave?) to render the grease off so it isn't so messy.


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## chorizodahitman (Jul 7, 2009)

I appreciate the help.


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## damone (Jul 13, 2009)

That looks awesome!

I've thought about tackling a fattie but wasn't sure how to start. I think those pictures just helped me decide!


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## fmcowboy (Jul 31, 2009)

Its my birthday tomorrow and want to attempt my first fattie going with an italian one. What size ziploc bag? I now see how to do the bacon weaver, how do you roll and get it nice and tight? Any mid roll pics?

FM


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## tacman (Jul 31, 2009)

awesome looking fattie and bacon weave. I was intimidated by the bacon weave until I tried it and found out how easy it was.

As for rolling out the fattie in a ziploc bag.... I don't. The size of my family warrants using two pounds of meat for the roll and I have not found a ziploc big enough and choose to make one big fattie as opposed to two smaller ones.

What I do is lay out some saran wrap and spray it with Pam.... and then cover with another piece of saran wrap and roll it out.

When I am done, I find that the saran wrap (underneath) really helps aide in rolling the fattie with a minimum of effort and tearing of the sausage / burger.

Here is a qview....



( I found that by placing the saran wrap on a flat cookie sheet, that I can turn the whole fattie as I am working and do not have to lift it up in order to place in the freezer for firming...I just slip the whole cokkie sheet in and then slide it off the cookie sheet into the smoker.)



The Finished Product...


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## que-ball (Jul 31, 2009)

FMCowboy--A 1-gallon ziplock works well for 1-1.5# of sausage that you're starting with, and cheap store brand bags work just as well as the brand name bags.  Don't spray Pam or anything inside the bag to prevent the sausage sticking to the bag, just keep it good and cold.  Try to get as much air out of the bag as you can while you're rolling the sausage flat.  I 'burp' mine several times while I'm rolling it; others suggest not sealing the bag in the first place.  Once it's flat, put the sausage and the cutting board it's on back in the freezer to stiffen up, 15-30 minutes.

When it's cold, slit the sides of the bag with scissors, and you should be able to peel the plastic off the top of the sausage with minimal sticking.  Put your fillings on, staying away from all edges of the sausage, and don't try to heap too much on.  Use the plastic bag to help you fold your sausage roll onto itself, and pinch the lengthwise seam and both ends closed.

Your bacon weave should be laid out on its own plastic wrap.  Set your sausage roll on it, and use the plastic to help you wrap  the bacon weave around the sausage roll.  I try to have the seam in my bacon wrap NOT line up with the seam in my sausage roll.  Pinch the plastic on the ends of your fattie and push the fattie away from you, letting it roll on the counter.  Lift it up, using a finger or two to keep it from unrolling, and set it back down close to you.  Push it away again; carry it back again.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Etc.  You should end up with something resembling a tootsie roll.  Tuck the ends of the plastic under your fattie to keep it from unravelling, and rest it in the fridge.  This will help prevent it coming apart while you transfer i to your smoker.

That's the best I can describe the process.  I don't have any mid-roll pics, but it almost takes video to show the process.  Someone should be along shortly with a link to a good you-tube video of it, or you could try a search.

Don't forget to show us q-view of your fattie!


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## fmcowboy (Aug 1, 2009)

thanks much. im gonna give it a try and post qview when I do.


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