Bacon Explosion (Recipe)

OK, so this is the first CFR recipe post. The idea of posting recipes seems like a natural and organic extension of Rob's Grill, but it took some nudging by my blogger friend from Big Red Kitchen to get me started. More about her in the next post. In the meantime, you should check out BRK because it's good stuff.

[NOTE:  To avoid any confusion, my local friends should know that BRK has nothing to do with our Big Red.]

The Bacon Explosion is NOT my idea. It became a popular item a few years ago thanks to the BBQ Addicts blog. I remember reading about it back then, but I was afraid to try it because I figured it would kill me on the spot. And then I completely forgot about it until my brother mentioned it earlier this week. Unable to get this thing out of my head, I figured a Super Bowl party would be the perfect opportunity to create this monstrosity. If we share it with the neighbors and spread the artery-clogging damage among 11 or 12 of us, we should all survive the experience... Right?

Just to be safe, we did have a Doctor on hand.


INGREDIENTS:

• Bacon (2 lbs)
• Sausage (2 lbs)
• BBQ Rub
• BBQ Sauce

STEPS:

• Brown 1/2 lb of bacon and chop/crumble it up.
• Weave a bacon mat and sprinkle it with the BBQ rub.
• Lay the sausage square on top of the bacon mat.
• Spread the crumbled bacon on top of the sausage and top with BBQ sauce.
• Carefully roll up the sausage square on top of the bacon mat.
• Roll the sausage log up in the bacon mat.
• Smoke it until it reaches 165 degrees.
• Serve it however.

Ingredients.  All of them.

With a little more planning it would have been nice to use locally sourced bacon & sausage, but there's nothing wrong with Wright Brand & Johnsonville! We used Meathead's Memphis Dust for the rub, and feeling patriotic Kentucky Proud we used a local Bourbon BBQ Sauce.

6x6 Bacon Mat.

While my assistant was browning some bacon, I had fun fun fun weaving the raw Bacon Mat. Everybody should do this at least once! The original recipe suggests going 5x5, but with Wright Bacon 6x6 provided a good square.

The only thing better than a 6x6 bacon mat is a 6x6 bacon mat sprinkled with Memphis Dust.

Two packs of the Johnsonville Sausage are just the right size to form a proper sausage square that covers the bacon mat. The browned bacon is arranged on top and covered with the BourbonQ Sauce, and now we're ready to roll it up. In a moment of weakness, I considered adding some onions and/or peppers to the mix, but this ain't no place for vegetables! At least not on the first try.

The roll-up process consists of two steps. First, roll up the sausage square on top of the bacon mat (I don't have a picture of that step, but the BBQ Addicts page does show it here). Then, with the sausage log sitting on the edge of the bacon mat, roll the whole thing back up to produce the final product. It's beautiful, and it's ready for more Memphis Dust.

Since we're only doing one BE log, we used the Weber Kettle instead of firing up the WSM. Just set it up for indirect cooking and add some hickory chunks for smoke. Ideally you would smoke it at 225 degrees, but my temps ranged from 250 to 350 and it turned out great in less than two hours. There is no risk of flare-ups with this setup, so just make sure there is plenty of smoke and it'll be fine.

After about thirty minutes I realized we were wasting smoke, so I threw some Johnsonville Brats and some peppers into the mix.

We applied the BourbonQ sauce when the internal temp hit 150 degrees.

Weber doing what Weber does.

Bingo!

Thermapens are the coolest thing since fire.

The obligatory motorcycle or Corvette pic.
KTM Super Duke R @ Porky Pig Diner in Pig, KY.

This has nothing to do with nothing, but I decided that every post shall have a picture of a motorcycle or Corvette. And since we're almost cooking a whole pig today, this one seemed appropriate. Also, it's my favorite picture ever.

Bacon Explosion.

Oh my.

You can get at least twelve good slices out of this here log.

Throw it on a Biscuit with a little more BBQ sauce and it should be the best Bacon Biscuit you ever had. And the best Sausage Biscuit, too.

My assistant got the first bite just a few minutes before the guests arrived. He gave it a B+ and I think that's fair. True, he's just 11-years-old, but he's been judging our ribs and chicken wings and BBQ for the past seven years, and he's darn honest. A's are hard to come by!

[TANGENT:  He also predicted the Giants would beat the Patriots 24-17, and that was two days before the Conference Championship games. Next year we're not having a Super Bowl party because we're going to Vegas!]

But my assistant does not consider presentation when he grades these things, and that's why I give the BE a solid A. There were millions of chicken wings and hamburgers grilled up across America today, and nobody will remember any of that stuff a year from now. But I guarantee everybody remembers the guy who showed up at the Super Bowl party with a Bacon Explosion log! My neighbors brought some great food to the party (incidentally, almost every dish featured some form of Pork), and the BE was the first to go.


LESSONS LEARNED:  Next time we'll do a few things different. I'll definitely throw some onions & peppers on top of the sausage square along with the browned bacon. I'll have to figure out some way to get the drippings from the drip pan before applying the BBQ sauce because I can't imagine a better way to start the next batch of chili. And I'll make two BE logs instead of one since one doesn't last long if you got a crowd...

PS:  The Smoked Bratwurst turned out OK, too... :)

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