Bacon Explosion
- Thread starter Tim C
- Start date
From the NY Times:
Bacon Explosion
Published: January 27, 2009
Adapted from Jason Day and Aaron Chronister
Time: About 3 hours
2 pounds thick-cut sliced bacon
1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage, casings removed
3 tablespoons barbecue rub
3/4 cup barbecue sauce.
1. Using 10 slices of bacon, weave a square lattice like that on top of a pie: first, place 5 bacon slices side by side on a large sheet of aluminum foil, parallel to one another, sides touching. Place another strip of bacon on one end, perpendicular to the other strips. Fold first, third and fifth bacon strips back over this new strip, then place another strip next to it, parallel to it. Unfold first, third and fifth strips; fold back second and fourth strips. Repeat with remaining bacon until all 10 strips are tightly woven.
2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees or light a fire in an outdoor smoker. Place remaining bacon in a frying pan and cook until crisp. As it cooks, sprinkle bacon weave with 1 tablespoon barbecue rub. Evenly spread sausage on top of bacon lattice, pressing to outer edges.
3. Crumble fried bacon into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle on top of sausage. Drizzle with 1/2 cup barbecue sauce and sprinkle with another tablespoon barbecue rub.
4. Very carefully separate front edge of sausage layer from bacon weave and begin rolling sausage away from you. Bacon weave should stay where it was, flat. Press sausage roll to remove any air pockets and pinch together seams and ends.
5. Roll sausage toward you, this time with bacon weave, until it is completely wrapped. Turn it so seam faces down. Roll should be about 2 to 3 inches thick. Sprinkle with remaining barbecue rub.
6. Place roll on a baking sheet in oven or in smoker. Cook until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 1 hour for each inch of thickness. When done, glaze roll with more sauce. To serve, slice into 1/4- to- 1/2-inch rounds.
Yield: 10 or more servings.
Bacon Explosion
Published: January 27, 2009
Adapted from Jason Day and Aaron Chronister
Time: About 3 hours
2 pounds thick-cut sliced bacon
1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage, casings removed
3 tablespoons barbecue rub
3/4 cup barbecue sauce.
1. Using 10 slices of bacon, weave a square lattice like that on top of a pie: first, place 5 bacon slices side by side on a large sheet of aluminum foil, parallel to one another, sides touching. Place another strip of bacon on one end, perpendicular to the other strips. Fold first, third and fifth bacon strips back over this new strip, then place another strip next to it, parallel to it. Unfold first, third and fifth strips; fold back second and fourth strips. Repeat with remaining bacon until all 10 strips are tightly woven.
2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees or light a fire in an outdoor smoker. Place remaining bacon in a frying pan and cook until crisp. As it cooks, sprinkle bacon weave with 1 tablespoon barbecue rub. Evenly spread sausage on top of bacon lattice, pressing to outer edges.
3. Crumble fried bacon into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle on top of sausage. Drizzle with 1/2 cup barbecue sauce and sprinkle with another tablespoon barbecue rub.
4. Very carefully separate front edge of sausage layer from bacon weave and begin rolling sausage away from you. Bacon weave should stay where it was, flat. Press sausage roll to remove any air pockets and pinch together seams and ends.
5. Roll sausage toward you, this time with bacon weave, until it is completely wrapped. Turn it so seam faces down. Roll should be about 2 to 3 inches thick. Sprinkle with remaining barbecue rub.
6. Place roll on a baking sheet in oven or in smoker. Cook until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 1 hour for each inch of thickness. When done, glaze roll with more sauce. To serve, slice into 1/4- to- 1/2-inch rounds.
Yield: 10 or more servings.
The only "fantastic" thing about this recipe is the hype. The Bacon Explosion is without a doubt the worst thing to ever come out of my smoker. I am currently picking at the remains of the one I made on Sunday. It is even more disgusting than I remember.
There are three major problems with the recipe.
1. Barbecue sauce should not be applied to Italian sausage. The spices in the sausage do not mix well with the flavors in barbecue sauce.
2. Sprinkling the barbecue rub on the bacon makes the bacon extremely salty.
3. You cannot cook bacon at 225F, even two-plus hours in the smoker will not cook it. The result is a smoky layer of soggy bacon for the exposed portion of the weave. Worse yet is the layer of raw bacon that is underneath. It simply does not get cooked.
This is not fantastic. It is a culinary atrocity (my wife was not so kind in her description).
Save your bacon. Don't waste it on this mess.
Shawn W
TVWBB Emerald Member
Tell us how you REALLY feel JR
I have similar feelings, particularly in regard to the bacon. I made one this weekend as well.
Mine cooked for more like 7 hours in that temp range and I STILL wasn't happy with the bacon, the underside of the weave seemed uncooked. I peeled it all off and fried it, then tossed it because it tasted off.
I'm not bashing, the recipe per se .. I didn't use one, just winged it.
I used two pounds of butcher wrapped, stamped ground pork which must have been lean because the end product was way too dry. My rub was salt free so that didn't hit me and I wasn't about to BBQ sauce the whole thing.
It didn't taste right and certainly didn't smell right though I think the latter is my own doing from using asiago cheese, rehydrated anchos and thyme in the meat. I'd say most of the cheese ended up in the water pan.
Can't win 'em all.
I have similar feelings, particularly in regard to the bacon. I made one this weekend as well.
Mine cooked for more like 7 hours in that temp range and I STILL wasn't happy with the bacon, the underside of the weave seemed uncooked. I peeled it all off and fried it, then tossed it because it tasted off.
I'm not bashing, the recipe per se .. I didn't use one, just winged it.
I used two pounds of butcher wrapped, stamped ground pork which must have been lean because the end product was way too dry. My rub was salt free so that didn't hit me and I wasn't about to BBQ sauce the whole thing.
It didn't taste right and certainly didn't smell right though I think the latter is my own doing from using asiago cheese, rehydrated anchos and thyme in the meat. I'd say most of the cheese ended up in the water pan.
Can't win 'em all.
Irwin M. Fletcher
New member
Glad I'm not the only one who had an issue with the outside bacon. After ~ 2hours it still looked nearly raw, so I fired up the temps to ~300 to try and crisp it for the last hour or so. It helped a little but it was still not anywhere near crisp after following thsoe directions.
I thought the rub did verge towards being too salty, but I used Mr. Brown rub so it did have some good spice to offset that.
My overall verdict? Worth trying, not offensive, but it won't be part of my ongoing repretoire.
I thought the rub did verge towards being too salty, but I used Mr. Brown rub so it did have some good spice to offset that.
My overall verdict? Worth trying, not offensive, but it won't be part of my ongoing repretoire.
There is a solution to the undercooked bacon and overcooked sausage problem. See this recipe for Redneck Sushi.
Shawn - You had the right instinct with your fillings. Skipping the sauce and using a favorite sausage from your butcher should lead to success.
Jim
Shawn - You had the right instinct with your fillings. Skipping the sauce and using a favorite sausage from your butcher should lead to success.
Jim
Brian Ferdman
Banned
I have to echo everyone's comments here because this recipe turned out to be the overrated gimmick I suspected it was. I made it because my friends were excited about it, and I wanted to see if there was any substance to the hype. That said, it was a great study in Internet viral marketing.
I made two of these for the Super Bowl. One had sweet sausage, and the other was spicy. Like you guys, I thought the addition of BBQ sauce was out of place, but I wanted to follow the recipe as closely as I could, so I went with it. My original plan was to use a sweeter sauce with the spicy sausage and vice-versa, but I wasn't paying attention and wound up putting Sweet Baby Ray's with the sweet sausage and an Alligator Barbecue Cajun Garlic Sauce with the spicy sausage. In any combination, these flavors seemed like odd matches to me, but I went with it. I used Kevin's South of the Butt Rub on each.
The first one (sweet) took close to 5 hours to reach the desired temperature. I sliced it, and we ate it during the beginning of the fourth quarter. We were already on the verge of food coma, and eating something with fatty, undercooked bacon on the inside was not what the doctor ordered. The second one (hot) took forever, and around 2:30AM, I threw it in the oven with the heat jacked up in hopes I could overcook it enough to melt away some of that inner fat. I let it go until about 169 before I took it off to cool. Then I wrapped it and put it in the fridge overnight.
The next day I took it to work and sliced it thinly while it was cold. Everyone ate it cold, and they all really liked it. I thought it tasted like a pretty good salami, and I would imagine that the garlic in the sauce helped that cause.
I would consider making the second one again at a higher heat, but on the whole, the amount of money and effort you put into this recipe doesn't yield results that make it worthwhile. If you like bacon on the smoker, just make Pig Candy. It's one of the easiest recipes out there, and it tastes way better than this Bacon Explosion.
Note to self: Avoid all future recipes with "explosion" in the name.
I made two of these for the Super Bowl. One had sweet sausage, and the other was spicy. Like you guys, I thought the addition of BBQ sauce was out of place, but I wanted to follow the recipe as closely as I could, so I went with it. My original plan was to use a sweeter sauce with the spicy sausage and vice-versa, but I wasn't paying attention and wound up putting Sweet Baby Ray's with the sweet sausage and an Alligator Barbecue Cajun Garlic Sauce with the spicy sausage. In any combination, these flavors seemed like odd matches to me, but I went with it. I used Kevin's South of the Butt Rub on each.
The first one (sweet) took close to 5 hours to reach the desired temperature. I sliced it, and we ate it during the beginning of the fourth quarter. We were already on the verge of food coma, and eating something with fatty, undercooked bacon on the inside was not what the doctor ordered. The second one (hot) took forever, and around 2:30AM, I threw it in the oven with the heat jacked up in hopes I could overcook it enough to melt away some of that inner fat. I let it go until about 169 before I took it off to cool. Then I wrapped it and put it in the fridge overnight.
The next day I took it to work and sliced it thinly while it was cold. Everyone ate it cold, and they all really liked it. I thought it tasted like a pretty good salami, and I would imagine that the garlic in the sauce helped that cause.
I would consider making the second one again at a higher heat, but on the whole, the amount of money and effort you put into this recipe doesn't yield results that make it worthwhile. If you like bacon on the smoker, just make Pig Candy. It's one of the easiest recipes out there, and it tastes way better than this Bacon Explosion.
Note to self: Avoid all future recipes with "explosion" in the name.
Dave K
TVWBB Pro
I must say that I disagree with everyone here I followed thisrecipe, which I think is the same as Chris's, unless I missed something. I cooked it on New Years Eve with ribs, over a pan of beans. It took about the two and a half hours necessary. I found that the bacon was done, and the middle was good as well. The only change that I made was instead of Italin Sausage, I used a maple flavoured breakfast sausage, and for BBQ sauce I used Sweet Baby Rays Hickory Brown Sugar
mine turned out great. my kids were home from school so when went to make it i was down to 1 pound of sausage intead of 2. i used reg jc potter. i tried head country rub on one strip and nuked it and it was great. i went light on the rub and used no bbq sauce.
next time i will try turning it ½ way over during cooking to see if i can get my bacon more evenly cooked. i pulled it at 1 hr 30 min and had a 170 internal temp. i ran about 275 because of the vents hitting on the charcoal grate. i used a minion start and tried to stay at 200 but no luck. being a new high heat convert the vent thing has helped with everything else ive cooked on the 22.
i definately will try this again.
bacon fattie
next time i will try turning it ½ way over during cooking to see if i can get my bacon more evenly cooked. i pulled it at 1 hr 30 min and had a 170 internal temp. i ran about 275 because of the vents hitting on the charcoal grate. i used a minion start and tried to stay at 200 but no luck. being a new high heat convert the vent thing has helped with everything else ive cooked on the 22.
i definately will try this again.
bacon fattie
Brian Meagher
New member
Mine also turned out great. I smoked it along with a turkey breast.
I agree with DaveK, if you follow the recipe, it will be a success.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh...OAdQ?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/ho...#5305631692241166274
I agree with DaveK, if you follow the recipe, it will be a success.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh...OAdQ?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/ho...#5305631692241166274
Jason Howard
TVWBB Fan
Here is one I did a few months ago...ground beef was the filler, and stuffed with more bacon (of course!) and grilled white onions.
It was tasty, we sliced it and ate it on hamburger buns.
It was tasty, we sliced it and ate it on hamburger buns.
Brian Meagher
New member
Looks good Jason!
Hard to screw this up, but for myself, I've done a few "versions" that were just O.K.
I think the original recipe is the bomb.
Hard to screw this up, but for myself, I've done a few "versions" that were just O.K.
I think the original recipe is the bomb.
Tommy Jaynes
TVWBB Member
My friend is making a bacon cheese burger explosion this weekend. I suppose it will be similar to Jason's with the pics above.
Funny, my friend's name is Jason too... I hope it turns out as good as yours looked.
Funny, my friend's name is Jason too... I hope it turns out as good as yours looked.
Not to knock this recipe but to do it up right use this recipe:
http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/fo...0069052/m/4460073395
It's definitely the way to go.
http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/fo...0069052/m/4460073395
It's definitely the way to go.
Chris Wagg
New member
Sorry, but when I saw this recipe (a coworker sent me the link), I serously thought it was a joke. Who would make this?
I know that a lot of what gets cooked on a smoker is not healthy but this is just disgusting.
The fact that the bacon doesn't crisp up becomes kind of obvious in retrospect (thanks to those who tried it for me).
Anyway, I am actually really glad that I read this thread because there was a little voice in the back of my head that kept trying to get me to make this. Now I know better.
Chris
I know that a lot of what gets cooked on a smoker is not healthy but this is just disgusting.
The fact that the bacon doesn't crisp up becomes kind of obvious in retrospect (thanks to those who tried it for me).
Anyway, I am actually really glad that I read this thread because there was a little voice in the back of my head that kept trying to get me to make this. Now I know better.
Chris