# First fattie, help!



## burgerbob (Sep 17, 2016)

I have a breakfast fattie on the smoker right now.  After seeing all of the pictures and posts I decided it was time to give it a shot.  So far I have realized I need to learn from my mistakes when I do a cheeseburger one for dinner tomorrow.  I read a number of posts and thought I had a pretty good idea of what I'll need to do in order to get this made properly.  It turned out that I had no clue what I was doing and became quite frustrated immediately.  I'm hoping I can get some pointers so my fattie goes smoothly tomorrow.  

Started by dicing some white onion, green pepper and a couple of small roasted pablano peppers.  Cooked up some homestyle potatoes and made some scrambled eggs.

Next, I took out the 1.75lbs of breakfast sausage I had and rolled it out in a 2 gallon Ziploc bag (first mistake as the bag was too big for the amount of sausage I had). I cut it out of the Ziploc bag and put it down on some waxed paper. I believe that this was my next mistake, I did not put the meat in the freezer to get it colder and be easier to work with.

I started adding my ingredients, eggs, then vegetables, then potatoes, and some cheese to top it off.  As I attempted to roll the sausage up I started having issues.  I believe it had gotten too warm and was sticking to the wax paper and had some serious issues rolling it.  The next problem I believe I had was that I had too much inside the roll and it made it more difficult to roll and seal.  As I was rolling it up it started breaking apart on me.  I did my best to seal it but started getting frustrated (everything has to be perfect, character flaw).  I was realizing that it was too difficult to work with so I covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight.  

I realized that I would probably need more sausage in order to patch up the holes/breaks in the roll.  I got up early and bought another pound of sausage in the morning and then started doing some patch work.  It seemed like the roll was easier to work with when it was colder so I got everything patched and rolled up as tight as I could get it without breaking it again.  I put it in the freezer for about an hour and made my bacon weave.  I put the bacon weave in the fridge while the fattie was in the freezer.

I had some issues with getting the bacon weave on after I had let it cool.  Because the roll seemed pretty flimsy I put some butcher's twine around it so that I could smoke it.  I put this back in the freezer while I got the smoker ready.  Got the smoker up to 250 and put it on.  I don't have any pictures of it rolled unfortunately but it looked fine, just worried about how loose everything is.  I'll post some pictures after it is done but I'm really hoping for some suggestions for the one I'm going to do tomorrow.

Added the eggs













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Added the vegetables













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Added the potatoes













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Added the cheese













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## seenred (Sep 17, 2016)

Hi Bob, after some struggles, it looks like you've got it going in the right direction now!  As you already said, you'll learn from the mistakes you made on this first one, and the next will be that much easier.  Don't know if you've already seen it, but this link is the best fatty tutorial I've read:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/87031/rollin-a-fatty-my-version

One of Silverwolf's tips that really helped me was using the Saran Wrap to tighten the fattie after rolling it.

I think you've already figured out the 2 tips I would have given:  don't overstuff...makes it a lot harder to roll without everything coming apart; and keeping your sausage pretty firm by refridgerating makes it easier to handle.

Hope that helps...looking forward to seeing your finished product!  Thumbs Up

Red


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## burgerbob (Sep 17, 2016)

SeenRed said:


> Hi Bob, after some struggles, it looks like you've got it going in the right direction now!  As you already said, you'll learn from the mistakes you made on this first one, and the next will be that much easier.  Don't know if you've already seen it, but this link is the best fatty tutorial I've read:
> 
> http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/87031/rollin-a-fatty-my-version
> 
> ...



Thanks Red.  I did read that post and was hoping to use the saran wrap but I was having too much trouble with it falling apart to even transfer it to Saran wrap. 

Here's the finished product, letting it rest on foil for a few minutes before slicing it. 













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## burgerbob (Sep 17, 2016)

Here's the finished product.  It tasted fine but was too much sausage.  I know what to fix next time though!












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## davidhef88 (Sep 17, 2016)

Looks good!!


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## burgerbob (Sep 17, 2016)

Davidhef88 said:


> Looks good!!


Thanks, it definitely turned out better than I thought it would.


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## SmokinAl (Sep 18, 2016)

It sure looks good from here!

Al


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## burgerbob (Sep 18, 2016)

SmokinAl said:


> It sure looks good from here!
> 
> Al


Thanks Al, it definitely turned out better than I expected.  I'm doing a cheeseburger one for dinner with my family this evening,  So far it's going a lot better than before.  I made my corrections and feel more confident with this one.  I used a gallon bag instead of the 2 gallon bag this time and I left the meat in the freezer for about a hour before I started to fill and roll it.  Was actually able to get it off the wax paper without sticking to it and was able to roll it in Saran Wrap like in Silverwolf's post.  [thread="87031"]Rollin A Fatty My Version​[/thread]. Then I put it back in the freezer for a bit and rolled it up in bacon then back into the fridge while I got my smoker ready.  I'm about to throw it on, I'll send updates.  













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## SmokinAl (Sep 18, 2016)

It sure looks good!

A little Pam helps get the fattie to release from the zip lock & the wax paper.

I also spray the saran wrap.

Al


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## burgerbob (Sep 18, 2016)

SmokinAl said:


> It sure looks good!
> A little Pam helps get the fattie to release from the zip lock & the wax paper.
> I also spray the saran wrap.
> 
> Al


I was thinking about doing that but wasn't sure.  Making sure everything stayed cool and didn't warm up helped a lot. Here's it finished, forgot to get sliced pictures but it was pretty darn good. 













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## SmokinAl (Sep 19, 2016)

It sure looks good!

Nice job Bob!

Al


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