Bacon Explosion
I first saw this recipe on Fox news Friday morning 1-30-09 and didn't pay much attention to it. Later that day a friend of mine gave me the website and told me to check it out. It was love at first sight! The next day I bought the ingredients, prepared the Explosion and it was on the grill by Sunday!
Before we get to the photos I want to give all credit to Jason Day and Aaron Chronister who created this monster over at bbqaddicts.com and a very special thank you to the friend who sent me the site.....you know who you are :)
First off start with 2 pounds of thick bacon, don't skimp on the bacon here folks, the cheap stuff ain't gonna work! Spend a few extra bucks and get the good stuff, no turkey bacon either, all pig! Next you'll need 1 1/2 - 2 pounds of sausage, the recipe calls for italian but I used a combination of italian, polish and regular sausages. Several shakes of Daddy Dawg & The Pups BBQ Rub©, use as much or as little as you like of your favorite bbq rub. 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 1 tablespoon of chopped jalapenos from a jar or fresh if you prefer and about 1/2 cup of cooked bacon. BBQ Sauce. 1 tablespoon of liquid smoke (My preference but not needed).
Lay 5 strips of bacon horizontally, take 5 more strips and weave them into the others vertically as seen below. Then chop up the rest of the bacon and fry until its cooked the way you like it and set aside.
Your bacon must be placed tightly against the other slices so it doesn't come apart when rolling up.
Apply your favorite dry rub to the bacon next, I use my own personal rub; Daddy Dawg & The Pups BBQ Rub®.
Apply your favorite dry rub to the bacon next, I use my own personal rub; Daddy Dawg & The Pups BBQ Rub®.
Next step prepare your sausage. I used 1/2 pound of regular pork sausage, 1/2 pound italian sausage and 1/2 pound polish sausage. I removed the casing from the italian and polish sausage and ground them up in the food processor then mixed thoroughly with the regular sausage. I also added a tablespoon of liquid smoke while mixing.
Spread your sausage out on top of the bacon and press down firmly so it will not fall apart while rolling.
Make sure your sausage is even with the edges of the bacon and it's the same thickness all over.
Next add more dry rub to the sausage and a thin layer of BBQ sauce.
Add your cooked bacon, garlic, jalapenos and parsley.
Slowly roll the sausage away from you being careful to get the edges and keep the sausage from tearing as you roll.
Now that your sausage is all rolled up good and tight fold the end of the bacon up over it and slowly begin to wrap the sausage in the bacon. Make sure the bacon stays extra tight or it will come apart during smoking.
Sprinkle with more Daddy Dawg & The Pups BBQ Rub® and you're ready for the grill.
Using the indirect cooking method keep your temp around 250 degrees. The rule of thumb here is 1 hour per inch or an internal temp of 165, my Bacon Explosion was roughly 2 inches thick so I cooked it for an hour and 1/2 and checked the internal temp which was 160 so I removed it from the grill and wrapped it in foil for 30 minutes on the kitchen counter allowing it to come up to 165 degrees. After unwrapping from the foil I put a nice thick coat of honey bbq sauce on it and let it rest about 15 minutes before slicing.
Sliced In Half.
Sliced And Ready To Eat!