It's the most blogged-after culinary (can it even be called that?) phenomenon since...who knows. It doesn't matter. It's the friggin' Bacon Explosion. It's multiple strips of bacon, latticed artfully and lovingly seasoned, then piled with pig in its other beloved form, sausage; topped with crumbly, crunchety, already-cooked bacon bits--all rolled up into one psychotic death-by-artery-clog log o'fun! Bacon lovers unite! Log out and don't stop till the last guy hits the floor. It's a new year, a new you: get out there, hit the gym, get fit, then celebrate a long week of hard work with a saturated fat bonanza, disguised as a wildly creative and indulgent twist on the classic American BBQ.
I can do nothing but approve, out of hilarity and general malaise. Here's the recipe, as if you haven't already read about it elsewhere and written it down for all your pork-loving uncles and pas.
(courtesy of NYT.com)
Adapted from Jason Day and Aaron Chronister
Take Bacon. Add Sausage. Blog. (January 28, 2009)
Time: About 3 hours
2 pounds thick-cut sliced bacon
1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage, casings removed
3 tablespoons barbecue rub
3/4 cup barbecue sauce.
1. Using 10 slices of bacon, weave a square lattice like that on top of a pie: first, place 5 bacon slices side by side on a large sheet of aluminum foil, parallel to one another, sides touching. Place another strip of bacon on one end, perpendicular to the other strips. Fold first, third and fifth bacon strips back over this new strip, then place another strip next to it, parallel to it. Unfold first, third and fifth strips; fold back second and fourth strips. Repeat with remaining bacon until all 10 strips are tightly woven.
2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees or light a fire in an outdoor smoker. Place remaining bacon in a frying pan and cook until crisp. As it cooks, sprinkle bacon weave with 1 tablespoon barbecue rub. Evenly spread sausage on top of bacon lattice, pressing to outer edges.
3. Crumble fried bacon into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle on top of sausage. Drizzle with 1/2 cup barbecue sauce and sprinkle with another tablespoon barbecue rub.
4. Very carefully separate front edge of sausage layer from bacon weave and begin rolling sausage away from you. Bacon weave should stay where it was, flat. Press sausage roll to remove any air pockets and pinch together seams and ends.
5. Roll sausage toward you, this time with bacon weave, until it is completely wrapped. Turn it so seam faces down. Roll should be about 2 to 3 inches thick. Sprinkle with remaining barbecue rub.
6. Place roll on a baking sheet in oven or in smoker. Cook until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 1 hour for each inch of thickness. When done, glaze roll with more sauce. To serve, slice into 1/4-
to- 1/2-inch rounds.
Yield: 10 or more servings.
