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AnotherPintPlease

Feb 6, 2012
How To Smoke A Fatty

All drug jokes aside, in the BBQ world there is the famous "fatty." It is also known as a "bacon explosion." This beast of a meal is comprised of a roll of breakfast sausage that is smoked on a smoker. The simplest version is called a "naked fatty" which is just a roll of sausage that is smoked. Fancier versions include stuffed sausage rolls that are wrapped in bacon. The latter is what I chose to do. Wow, this is a wild and crazy appetizer! Check this bad boy out:

smoking a bbq fatty

Main Ingredients:

2 lbs of breakfast sausage (Jimmy Dean sage variety)
2 lbs of bacon
Any BBQ dry rub (Here's a good dry rub recipe)
1 onion
2 jalapeno peppers
Shredded cheese (any kind will work)
BBQ sauce (Here's my favorite BBQ sauce)

ingredients in a bbq fatty

First, set up your smoker for 250 degree smoking (as shown here). I used apple wood for smoking this fatty. While the smoker is coming to temperature start making the fatty by covering a chopping block with Saran wrap. This will help you roll up the fatty later. Take the ground sausage and spread it out into an even rectangle. Finely dice the onion and sauté it in olive oil. Chop the whole jalapeno peppers (leaving the seeds and membrane in!). Spread the onions, jalapeno pepper and cheese all over the ground sausage.

rolling out sausage fatty

Grab one end of the Saran wrap and carefully roll up the fatty.

rolling out sausage fatty

Set your rolled fatty aside while you make the bacon weave. To be honest I had no clue how to make a bacon weave. The lovely Mrs. Grilling24x7 had to step in here and help me out. The finished product looked quite nice I think!

a bacon weave for a bacon explosion

CAREFULLY lift up the rolled fatty by using the Saran wrap underneath of it and place it over top of your bacon weave.

rolling out sausage fatty

It would have been helpful if I had assembled my bacon weave over top of Saran wrap. I didn't so it was a bit hard to roll the bacon around the sausage roll. It was possible, however.

rolling out sausage fatty

Oh yes, very nice!

rolling out sausage fatty

I used a little rectangle of aluminum foil to sit the fatty on. I don't think this is necessary. In fact, it sort of caused the bottom of the fatty to be a bit soft since it was sitting in juices. I was concerned that the fatty would either get stuck to the grates or fall apart but it really didn't. If I were to do it again I'd put it directly on the grates and use spatulas to get it off. I would also have an aluminum tin sitting on the lower grate to collect any drippings because this thing is fatty! Insert a thermometer probe and smoke it until the internal temperature reaches at least 165 degrees. 175 is preferable to make sure you've cooked it all the way through. Trust me you won't dry this thing out by overcooking!

fatty on the smoker

When the internal temperature of the fatty reaches about 160 degrees take some BBQ sauce and brush it all over the fatty. At this point don't add any extra smoking wood. This may over smoke the BBQ sauce. Just keep the heat going. A little smoke isn't bad but I don't like the taste of BBQ sauce that has been bombarded with harsh smoke. That's just my preference.

slicing a fatty

Let the fatty rest for at least 15 minutes. Then slice! You can really see the juicy inside. Oh man, the cheese, jalapeno, and onion mixes perfectly with the ground sausage. Drizzle some extra BBQ sauce on each slice when you serve it! Fantastic.

serving a bbq fatty

I sliced my fatty before taking it to a Superbowl party. When I got to the party I put it in a 350 degree oven to get it hot again. Keep that fatty hot when you are serving it.

Like the recipe? Want to talk about it? Go for it!