Newbie looking for Fattie info

[johndtw]

I am relatively new to the smoking world, and did a whole turkey last weekend. I am pretty happy with how it turned out, and over the past week I have learned a lot from the experience. I was paging through the forums, and my curiosity got the better of me and now I have questions on fatties. It appears that sausage is the go to meat, and thin sliced bacon is a must, however what is the trick with ground beef??
I was reading a post that ground beef is more difficult to make fatties with, what is the correct way use Ground Beef?
Fillings, it appears like eggs, along with some other items need to be precooked, what about hash browns? What else do you guys recommend precooking to stuff fatties with??
Thanks
John

P.S. this is my first post in the group, go easy on me LOL

 

[Winterrider]

I did Brown hash browns 1st. Have done scrabble eggs. Sauted mushrooms, onions, garlic,peppers ( green,red, yellow, orange, jalapeno). Sky is the limit. I have used the 3 pepper cheese also for some bite.

 

[fivetricks]

I've done it without sausage before, just using beef. I had no issues. Did nothing different

 

[radioguy]

No difference between beef and pork sausage in my opinion. I did a beef one. Call it philly cheese steak. Fried up steak um, onions peppera, mushrooms. Provolone and cheese whiz as the filling. That one I did not put a bacon weave on. I made the outside like a burger and really put a good crisp bark on it. It was out of this world!

One recommendation make sure your meat is very cold. It makes it a lot easier to roll tight. I put mine in a gallon ziplock, roll it out flat, then put it in the freezer for 20 mins.

Have fun
RG

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

What kind of fatties are we taking about smoking here? Haha jk was funny when I read the title and my intial thighs. Should be no problem with ground beef give it a go and take some pics!

 

[gmc2003]

Ground beef isn't a problem at all. I wouldn't use 90/10 however. You do need some fat in the meat. I usually go for 70/30 or 80/20. The innards are mostly cooked the way you like them prior to putting them into a fattie(at least mine are). If you like sauteed mushrooms and peppers then saute them first.
The only time I use a binder when making a fattiy is when I use ground poultry.
A couple of things to remember:
1) DON'T overstuff the fattie.
2) Keep your first fattie rather simple.
3) Don't get discouraged, if something goes a stray.
4) Ask any questions you have - there are plenty of fattie makers on site to help you out, and plenty of fattie examples posted to see what may tickle your fancy.

Go for it and let us know how it turns out.

Chris