First Fattie

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rogan

Fire Starter
Original poster
Feb 15, 2014
55
11
Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
Two months ago I discovered the fattie thread. Tonight I'm attempting my first. Using extra lean ground beef mixed with a brown sugar / maple sausage. Added a smoked apple wood rub on the inside of the bacon weave. Pan fried 3 strips of bacon with 5 cloves of garlic, fresh rosemary, dash of dehydrated chives & parsley flakes. Topped with old light cheddar, and partly skim mozzarella. I've got everything in the fridge overnight, wrapped in Saran Wrap. Couple questions for anyone. How much overlap bacon do I need to keep this thing from falling appart? I think I've got enough length coverage , but sure I've left the ends too short. Second question, I've only got a big chief smoker. Will this unit get the internal temp up quick enough? Will be consumed tomorrow night. Was thinking if nesecary I could get it smoked, then finish either on the BBQ, or in the oven. Any suggestions ? Got some pics today, will try to get the q-view pics tomorrow . Thank you!
 
 
So, I learned a couple things today. #1- This was amazing to eat, prepare, and research.
#2 - I forgot to squish the ends together to keep the cheese in place.
#3- there are so many variations to try! This is officially on my food menu rotation.
I smoked this with a combo of Alder & Hickory for around 5 hours. The internal temp hovered around 120 too long for me, (and I only had 2 hours left to get this done), so I finished this in the oven. Got it up to 160-162. Luckily the cheese melted out onto my drop pan, so asside from a lil bacon grease, it went back on top, crisped it on broil for 5 min. Now I've got my eyes set on a digital smoker that I can get more heat from. Just might not be for a year or so.
 
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Sorry I'm late on this. Looks great!

You could get some insulation for that Big Chief in the meantime. Had mine running at a steady 180F today even with all the wind!

drool.gif
 
 
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That bacon looks like thick cut. If so I have a little trick for you. If you let it get to room temp you can roll it out with a rolling pin. It thins it enough that you only probably use half the bacon you would and you would get enough length to wrap up those ends. I usually only have thick cut and learned this from trial and error. It works. also there are a lot of great tutorials on here for how to use saran wrap to your advantage to get a nice roll on the sausage with nicely sealed ends. Great first fatty though. Keep up the good work.
 
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You could throw one of these together pretty darn cheap and have a real smoker for stuff like that. Check out the UDS section.


I built one of these for my little chief to help get my temps up a little bit too. There are some mods you can do to your big chief to replace the element with a better and adjustable system for really cheap too so you can get up to 200 and all the way down to 120. In the winter I put an electric blanket over the whole shebang for a little more heat sometimes too.
 
I can take a picture of the left over piece (snack for later, I forgot the money shot). Think I'll build me an OSB cabinet to contain the heat / shelter the wind. Tons of scrap wood around the new home construction.
 
This was taken yesterday evening, re-heated so not "fresh", but was it ever delicious. My wife even tried a bite this time and said " that was really delicious". That was the best compliment I think anyone can receive.
 
This was taken yesterday evening, re-heated so not "fresh", but was it ever delicious. My wife even tried a bite this time and said " that was really delicious". That was the best compliment I think anyone can receive.
Outstanding...there is one better compliment...when reach g for the least piece having your spouse trying to stab you with a fork....lol...my Dad did that to me once years ago when we we're having ribs...
 
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