First fatty and my first Q-view

[ryanl]

Made a few things, but posting here as the fatties were what I originally planned to cook

I wanted to do one last BBQ of the year, but realized that I still had a big long list of things to make. I figured that if I was going to go to the trouble of firing up the smoker, I might as well make it worth it. I ended up cooking 2 fatties (which were what I wanted to make originally), a bunch of jalapeno poppers, and large pack of chicken thighs (because who doesn't like having kick ass BBQ every day for lunch at work?). I've never really documented a cook before, but since I was going all out, I figured I might as well take a few pics. Here's how it went down:

Started with a nice bacon weave (approx 7x6 pieces I believe):

Sprinkled a bit of Meathead's Memphis Dust:

Rolled out some Johnsonville's spicy Italian sausage and threw it on top:

Topped that off with some Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ sauce:

Added a few slices of pepper jack cheese:

Threw on a couple of chopped jalapenos:

And some red onion:

Then I did it all again. I didn't realize that the recipe I was using was for 2 fatties, but I can freeze one and thaw it in the winter when I have a craving for some Q:

I did all the hard work yesterday, then put it in the fridge to cook today. This ended up working really well as I used parchment to roll it up, squishing it together in the process, then today when i took it out, it had hardened up a bit, and I put some toothpicks in it to hold it together. It ended up holding together really well, which I was quite worried about:

Did some basic chicken thighs, brined them last night with salt and brown sugar, and threw some rub before they went in the cooker. These are a great thing to throw on if you have spare grill space. Like I said before, it's kind of a waste to go to all the work of firing up the smoker and not cooking as much food as possible:

The aforementioned ABT's. Just simple jalapeno, cream cheese and bacon (and smoke, of course):

Starting to put the food on the cooker:

And more. I put one thermometer probe in one of the fatties and had the other on the top rack for oven temp. Ended up taking only about 2.5 hours total, cooking at 225-ish:

About an hour in. Got some cheese goo dripping out. I guess I could have sealed the ends:

Coming along nicely:

The finished product (top rack):

Bottom rack:

Dat goo:

Critique and questions welcome!

 

[loniblaze]

Looks great!

 

[wade]

Hi Ryan

All looks great. A good full smoker too.

How did it taste? Was it a good flavour combination?

The fatty seems to have crumbled a little as it was probably still very hot when cut. If you leave it to cool a little then it may hold its shape more.

Well done and thanks for sharing 

 

 

[brooksy]

Everything looks great! Why in the world would this be your last smoke for the year?

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Looks great! We smoke year round, no need to put that smoker away!!

A couple suggestions for your fatty. Use half the amount of cheese that you did. A little bit goes a long ways. Same goes for the other fillings. To many and blowouts will happen.

When rolling, roll the sausage with the fillings into a log. Tighten it up using Saran or Parchment paper. Then place that log on the bacon weave and wrap the bacon weave around the log. I like to lay the sausage diagonally on the weave. Put the sausage log near one tip and roll. When I get to the middle of the weave I tuck the end corners in to close the ends. Tighten using the parchment (that's what I use since we don't keep Saran in the house). Let it set up a bit in the fridge or freezer. No need for toothpicks. It will hold together just fine.

 

[biggqwesty]

Here in aus were coming into fire ban season.
But a smoker is fine to use, many over compensate the ruling..
But great thread. The mind boggles with different combinations

 

[knifebld]

Love the choice of ingredients, great job Ryan!

 

[wade]

We BBQ all year round too - our Christmas turkey is always done in the smoker. It adds more flavour to what can be a fairly bland bird.

It really irks me when the large stores tent to flip the switch in September and all of the BBQ supplies get taken off display and the Christmas decorations suddenly appear. I have not tried to smoke using flashing LED Father Christmases but I think they would tend to flare up a bit too much and may give the meat a bitter bark.

 

[ryanl]

 
Hi Ryan

All looks great. A good full smoker too.

How did it taste? Was it a good flavour combination?

The fatty seems to have crumbled a little as it was probably still very hot when cut. If you leave it to cool a little then it may hold its shape more.

Well done and thanks for sharing 

 

It tasted great, I think the poppers/ABTs went quite well with it.

I think it would have turned out better if I had used plastic wrap to roll it, I've seen others do it that way, but I think I just forgot at the time. I only used parchment paper, it did a pretty good job, but it wasn't too tight. But it definitely doesn't need to look good to taste good :D

 

[rob sicc]

Love the combination.  I also love using Italian hot sausage for the meat.  I'm sure adding the chopped Jalepeno added great flavor too.

I've made a few Italian Fatties and I once tried rolling one with pancetta rather than bacon.   That wasn't to bad.  In all fairness, I saw it on a thread 

 

[disco]

Terrific food! Terrific qview! 

Please don't put that smoker away!

Disco

 

[b-one]

Looks great! Glad I don't need to deal with fire ban season I've heard a few stories on the fires there scary stuff.

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Cool , great post .

Thanks for the Eyeful . nice

.

Have fun and . . .

 

[driedstick]

Dang it man that looks great!!!! Nice job Ryan - Yes we smoke year round also I will have to agree don't put thea smoker away some of the best comes out in cold weather. 

A full smoker is a happy smoker

DS

 

[crazymoon]

You are making me hungry ,nice smoke !