Bacon Explosion

I (Brian) am having a fun time making food for the EQ party tonight. I thought it would be fun to blog the experience. Here are some pictures and instructions if you want to be a little crazy. Be careful, you will love this more than you hate the 2 lbs you will gain from it.



Needs:
2lb bacon
2lb Sausage
BBQ Sauce
BBQ Seasoning
Artichoke Hearts (Optional)
Stuffed Olives (Optional)



Step 1:







Weave bacon pieces together as shown here. It should usually take about 10 pieces of
bacon to make a square weave. I did this by laying each of the 5 vertical pieces side by side and then added the horizontal row piece by piece. I would fold back the vertical pieces in turn to get the weave.



Sprinkle with BBQ Seasoning once done.



Step 2:







Smash Sausages together into one big ball. Spread the sausage onto the bacon and out to the sides of the weaved square.



Cut up Artichoke, Olives, or grate cheese and put on top of the Sausage Layer.



Step 3:







Cook the remaining bacon you didn't use in the weave. Dice it up and put it on top of the sausage layer as well.



Drizzle BBQ sauce.



Step 4:







This is rolled up in two parts. First roll up the sausage layer from back to front. Squeeze the sausage ends to keep the good stuff inside. Second, roll the bacon around your just made sausage roll going from forward to back. Pinch the ends to keep it all inside.



Step 5:







Garnish if you want. We do this so we can tell which one is which when we get it out of our smoker. Here are the 3 rolls we made: Artichoke, Olive and Cheese.



Step 6: Crock Pot/Smoke







Smoking it is a lot more fun than crock potting it. The reasons aren't quite clear but it is true. I smoke ours any where from 2 to 3 hours depending on how thick the meat is or how many I have in there. I use hickory chips.



If you don't have a smoker then it will fit in your crock pot. Just jam it in there. This isn't pretty food. Just really good.



Like all crock pot food you can do it forever. There is enough grease in the bacon and sausage so very little water is needed. Just keep the lid on and let it go for at least 2.5 hours. The longer you can keep it in there, the better.



Step 7:







Look at it. Look how cool it is. Then take pictures of it.



Step 8:



Cut it up like a yule log and eat it. If you like BBQ sauce then go for it as well. I don't think it needs it.