The other day the guys from BaconToday.com contacted me in search for some barbecue bacon recipes. Of course I have plenty of great uses for bacon in a barbecue pit, but the longer I thought about it, the more I wanted to step it up a notch and clog a few arteries for those guys. Behold, BACON EXPLOSION!!! Here’s what you’ll need…
Bacon Explosion Ingredients
- 2 pounds thick cut bacon
- 2 pounds Italian sausage
- 1 bottle of Burnt Finger BBQ sauce
- 1 shaker of Burnt Finger BBQ rub
To kick off the construction of this pork medley you’ll need to create a 5×5 bacon weave. If the strips you’re using aren’t as wide as the ones pictured, then you may need to use a few extra slices to fill out the pattern. Just make sure your bacon weave is tight and that you end up with a nice square shape to work with.
The next step is to add some seasoning on top of your bacon weave. I used our Burnt Finger BBQ Smokey Kansas City seasoning (the label artwork has changed since this photo was taken), but many rubs will work. Here are some of my favorites that are available on Amazon.
The key here is to use a seasoning that is more sweet than salty. The bacon is already bringing a good amount of salt to party, so you want to avoid getting your Bacon Explosion over salted.
Now that you’re pork is well seasoned, it’s time to add more pork. Take two pounds of Italian sausage and layer it directly on top of your bacon weave. Be sure to press the sausage to the outer edges of the bacon creating a patty that is the same thickness all the way across. Most grocery stores carry loose sausage, so just pick out one you like. I chose to go with a mild sausage, but spicy would work just the same. If you really want to get crazy, take a stab at making your own homemade sausage.
Next up is bacon layer number two. Take the remaining bacon slices and fry them up the same way you would for breakfast (or lunch, or dinner, or a midnight snack). If you like soft bacon, make it soft. If you like crunchy bacon, make it crunchy. If you like your bacon burnt to hell so the smoke detectors go off, then burn it to hell so the smoke detectors go off. These pieces are going to be a major part of the inner flavor of our sausage fatty, so cook them your favorite way. Personally, I like my bacon right at the point when it starts to get crispy, but hasn’t quite lost all of the softness yet. Regardless of how well done you like yours, you’ll need to crumble or chop the cooked strips into bite size pieces and place on top of the sausage layer. (Note-It’s okay, and encouraged, to snack on these pieces while your chopping/crumbling. But keep in mind that once those bacon morsels touch the raw sausage, you’ll need to resist all temptations to nibble. This can and will be difficult, but hospital trips are no fun, so stay strong.)
Since this is a BBQ recipe, we need to add another layer of BBQ flavor. Take your favorite sauce and drizzle it all over the top of the bacon pieces. I use our Burnt Finger BBQ Smokey Kansas City sauce, but any BBQ sauce that you like will work. Here are some of my favorites that are available on Amazon.
Once you’ve sauced the bacon, sprinkle on some more of the Smokey Kansas City Barbecue Seasoning you used on the bacon weave.
Now comes the fun part. Very carefully separate the front edge of the sausage layer from the bacon weave and begin rolling backwards. You want to include all layers EXCEPT the bacon weave in your roll. Try and keep the sausage as tight as possible and be sure to release any air pockets that may have formed. Once the sausage is fully rolled up, pinch together the seams and ends to seal all of the bacon goodness inside.
At this point we can start to see the final shape of our Bacon Explosion, but we’re missing one key item. To complete the construction process, roll the sausage forward completely wrapping it in the bacon weave. Make sure it sits with the seam facing downward to help keep it all sealed up.
Sprinkle some more Smokey Kansas City Barbecue Seasoning on the outside of the bacon weave, and now this bad boy is ready for the smoker. Cook your Bacon Explosion at 225 degrees in a constant cloud of hickory smoke until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Normally this will take about 1 hour for each inch of thickness, but that could vary depending on how well you maintain your fire and also how many times you open the smoker to take a peek. Mine took about 2.5 hours, which was right on target with its 2.5 inch diameter.
Now that our Bacon Explosion is fully cooked, we need to add some finishing flavors. Remember that Burnt Finger BBQ sauce we used for inner flavor? We’ll be using that same sauce to glaze the cooked bacon weave. Using a basting brush, coat the entire surface with a thin layer of sauce.
Slice the Bacon Explosion into quarter to half inch rounds to serve. If your roll was good and tight, you should now see a nice bacon pinwheel pattern throughout the sausage. Obviously pork is best served by itself, but if you feel the need to make this meat monster into a sandwich, try placing a couple Bacon Explosion slices on a warm Pillsbury’s Grands Biscuit. You’ll reach pork Nirvana in no time flat!
Find the recipe without the comments here:
http://my.huddle.net/huddleworkspace/document.aspx?workspaceid=3089051&documentid=3089064&folderid=3089056
@Kurt @Dan
We don’t claim to be the inventor of the fatty in any way. If you can provide me with the location of where we made this statement, then we’ll gladly remove it.
Yeah,,, go ahead and remove it dude.
From the NY Times:
The Bacon Explosion was born shortly before Christmas in Roeland Park, Kan., in Jason Day’s kitchen. He and Aaron Chronister, who anchor a barbecue team called Burnt Finger BBQ, were discussing a challenge from a bacon lover they received on their Twitter text-messaging service: What could the barbecuers do with bacon?
what a crock! The inventor previously invented of a bacon fatty.
To Jaimo and GAQT :
Copy and print, my friends. I stumbled upon this site 3 days after it’s upload and it’s lit up my inbox every day since then. I hope the site owners make some money from the tremendous traffic they have allowed. It’s a wonderful thing.
maybe you want to send some person in Hospital for high blood right?
ok. here’s a tip for all you poser fools who are trying to talk trash about this most delicious of the good lord’s creations.
get off your high horse, grow a pair, and eat some freaking bacon. real men enjoy bacon, or generally any pork product, without any thought of the physical harm that eating pork may cause and without any thoughts of remorse about how many pigs had to die in order to serve the greater purpose of man. those thoughts are harbored only by weaklings.
this recipe was designed by someone who obviously was blessed with divine influence. this might be the greatest invention of our time.
I’m more impressed that someone thought-up this food mess than the fact it got so much traffic on the web.
@ Jaimo – Looks great….Why isn’t there a print icon so I can print the recipe?….Come on guys work with me. Not everyone needs to ‘Dig It”, “Stumble on it”….I just want to print it.
“work with me”? Really? Do you run a blog? Do you know how hard it is just to get a great post like this together? Let alone having a CSS file that allows “printing”? Do you even know how much more work that is? “work with me”?? REALLY?
@GAQT466 – ditto!
@Kerry – why would you suggest readers go to a site that requires a login to view this recipe? (my_dot_huddle_dot_net)
Have you people not heard of copy/paste?
@Dan 01.29.09 at 7:52 pm – you don’t make any sense. Learn to quote and type.
@Marc – Kudos, my friend. It’s a no brainer. Thank you!
@ everyone else… I’m sorry, but I had to call out the guys above that just don’t get it.
This post is one of the most popular that I’ve ever seen since blogging about food and bbq.
Thank you Jason and Aaron!
I am crying right now at this beautiful spectacle of swine. bravo bacon explosion, bravo!!!! i say!!!!!
I wants one!
I feel sorry for the Jews and the Moslems and the Vegetarians.
They shall never know the true blessing of such a pork overload.
I think I just gained 10 pounds just looking at these pictures. What kind of sick person came up with this recipe? Whoever did needs to be arrested for all the people they killed from this horrible, horrific, sickening recipe.
Oh my god are you people insane! I think that I just had 3 heart attacks from looking at this picture. If you eat this you will die a horrible death, it might look tempting now, but you will never be able to get the fat and lard out of your hardend arteries, which will in turn lead to your ultimate demise.
sadfwdf
Jason, I’m very impressed with your creation, but I’m not suprised at all. I remember you making some good stuff on the smoker at Dad’s way in CoMO. Congrats on all the success! I can’t wait to make one of these.
Death row here I come!!!
This was a great reason to buy a smoker. We had to get an indoor smoker to and the recipe works great but did not take 2.5 hours. Is that a typo? Seems like a long time unless indoor smokers do it quicker at the same temps…
But had to test it out on some chicken and veggies and found a new love: the indoor smoker. Only 28 minutes for three huge marinated chicken breasts. I know it may be sacrilege for hardcore BBQ’ers but it’s winter, we have no backyard, and for $40 it replaced the George Foreman. Buh-bye.
After eating this and having my heart attack, I want to be rolled in bacon and sausage (flavored to taste) and thrown in a six foot pit.
P.S. two hours before prep. Start hickory logs so there’s a nice bed of coals.
Upon completion, I want to be slather with my favorite barbeque sauce
Alrighty, so, I made it, and videographized the result. You can see that here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKVCi066-i0
YUM! It was delicious. I did do a few things wrong, but that just leaves room for me to make it again:
* Bacon I bought was delicious but VERY salty. I needed to either omit all salt from all other portions of this recipe or find a less salty bacon
* Sausage I bought was more “country breakfast” than “zesty italian” (which I would have preferred) but it was still good.
* I really shouldda used a sweeter BBQ sauce or cut the one I used with honey or similar.
Minor things. Seeyalls!
(I hope I’m allowed to post utube links here…)
Finally a dish worthy of the pig!
I made two of these beautiful beauties for my hubby to take to work on a Friday, it was a smash hit with everybody on his team save the vegan, who was disgusted. Anywhoooo, this comment goes out to all the people that needed an oven recipe…DUH! Use your heads people! Just put it in the oven at the temp stated for the smoker and cook it until the internal temp read 165 or so….then slather it with the rest of the sauce and stick it back in the oven until it’s all burned and yummy lookin….I followed the destructions as stated in the recipe and used the oven in the above mentioned fashion, and it turned out perfect!!! The bacon was wonderfully crispy crunchy and oh my yes, it was a little slice of heaven, right here in my dinky little apartment kitchen (hence I have no smoker, cuz I’m not allowed to have one on the deck, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to leave a good, nice smoker just sitting around down on the ground below my deck, so that one of my dipshit neighbors can steal it!) Thanks for the great recipe!
just for fun, i calculated the nutritional information base upon the labels of the ingredients i used.
made with 2 pounds of thick sliced bacon, 2 lbs of spicy iltalian sausage, and grands butter milk biscuits. the final log was massive and cut into 1/16 thick slices for a burger patty. roughly a 1/4 lbs precooked patty. then placed on a buttermilk flakey biscuit.
calories 477.5
fat 30.75 (keep in mind 190 cal and 9 fat are from the biscuit)
not as bad as you’d think. so just get 16 people together, because if you don’t, you’ll have seconds, and it gets worse from there.
@Jesse – Yea, we weren’t quite sure where the NY Times came up with the calorie count, but once they printed it that’s what everyone picked up.
Another website did an official count of some sort and came to around the same count. Besides, if you eat a whole one anyway you’ve got a lot more things to worry about!
Hey all. My crazy friend Billy Bob sent us a photo of his “Love Log” (ooh, that doesn’t sound good – that’s his term for the Bacon Explosion). It inspired me to create a VERY short tribute to the B.Ex. You can check it out at my Vimeo webpage: http://vimeo.com/3048659
Hope you enjoy it!
I need to get myself a decent BBQ so I can make one of these dam things.
You have to be a genius to figure out how to wrap meat around meat around meat. #TWSS
I am so thrilled that everyone is talking about this, and honestly I heard about it before I knew who made it and ever since then I have wanted one.
Maybe you guys can ship these at Christmas instead of fruit cake? I’d buy one!
Keep smokin!
dk
I just downloaded in my pants