I am still alive contrary to what my blog history may support. I am rededicating myself to keep this and my family blog current this year. And what better time to start than with my Super Bowl Bacon Explosion experience.
I'm sure as some of you saw last week there was some hype going around a bout a relatively new recipe for a bacon and sausage concoction. Well I saw it, and as a carnivore, drooled excessively. Amidst my grumbling and groaning and excessive salivation the idea that I might actually make one of these began to obsess my mind. And after the gazillionth website showing how, I decided that the dream must become a reality.
I new the ingredients would be easy to come buy but I needed a smoker to do this right. Now I tend to buy impulsively on such occasions. But alas, even I new that I could not buy a smoker just for one recipe that I had never actually tried. So I pondered on this for awhile until.... I remembered that my brother-in-law had smoked some Salmon last year. So I called him up and asked if I could borrow it. Which he said yes...I am not sure if it was because he new I was coming to watch the game at his house or not, but he knew he would be there to enjoy the Bacony goodness and thus I was given free reign to smoke away.
So Saturday Nicole picked up the necessary ingredients for me and Marcus, my Brother -in-Law, reme,bered to soak the wood chips for me. Which I had forgotten.
Sunday finally rolled around and I was busy with meetings at church. So I knew to get this going was going to be a challenge. I ran home around 9:30 am between 2 meetings and started the process.
First I made the bacon weave.
Then I added the layer of sausage.At this point I needed to go back to a couple meetings. And the next layer is cooked bacon. So I needed Nicole to cook that for me while I was gone, which she did. I returned around 11:30 and added the next layer of cooked bacon. At this time you also add some BBQ rub and your BBQ sauce.
Next is the trickiest part. You roll up the sausage and keep it packed tight. Then you roll the entire thing back to you to wrap the bacon around it. You do this to get the sausage mix nice and tight free of air bubbles and gaps. Once you have rolled it back with the bacon tuck the ends up tight. And then you add more rub to the outside. I used about 1 full tablespoon of rub throughout the process.
After this it is ready to go in the smoker. The smoker should be set at 225 and they recommend 1 hour of cooking per inch of thickness. The real key is to get so that the inside is at no less than 165 degrees. I found that here in Utah at altitude and in the heart of winter I had to add and extra hour to that cooking time.
Here it is 1/2 way through the cooking process. It looks good already. Once we got it to the right temperature it was all I could do to remain calm and get the last picture. I had forgotten my camera at home and took the last picture with my phone. I definitely couldn't wait to go get my camera. I took the B.E. out of the smoker and lightly glazed it with BBQ sauce and then it was ready. I snapped this last picture and then dove into my 1/2 slice.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was every bit a good as I could possibly have imagined. I have never used the terminology of rich with meat before, but it was rich. I ate 2 slices and then could eat no more. The taste was incredible. I actually wished I wouldn't have eaten so much before but it was probably for the better anyway. I am not quite ready to have a heart attack. But in a few years from now I can't think of a better way to go. Heart attack eating heaven and watching the Super Bowl. If you need specifics on sauces, rub, sausage and bacon used feel free to message me. This is too good to not share. Till next time.....Peace.
