Super fattie contest

[T.G]

Originally Posted by 68TriShield

So has anyone used ground Beef instead of Sausage/Pork?

Brent (Mr B) did a bbq bacon cheeseburger fatty here:
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showth...360#post862360

[cricky101]

Originally Posted by 68TriShield

So has anyone used ground Beef instead of Sausage/Pork?

I have. Sliced it and served it on buns like a cheeseburger.

I filled it with a lot of cheese, some onions and mushrooms and then wrapped in bacon like usual. It was a little crumbly (the beef was probably a little too lean), but it tasted great and my family really liked it.

[rizzle]

That sounds like a damn good idea to me. Smoked bacon cheeseburger fatty!

[croatan]

Originally Posted by 68TriShield

So has anyone used ground Beef instead of Sausage/Pork?

Darrel and I did one, too. Used ground beef mixed with some bread crumbs, and, if I recall correctly, filled it with cheese, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and a little bbq sauce. Then wrapped it in turkey bacon so that our non-pork-eating friends could still get in on the fattie fun.

[68TriShield]

I like Pork as much as the next guy but the Beef fatty sounds more palatable for me.
The Pork fatties I've had have all been too salty for me,good but salty.

[rizzle]

Originally Posted by 68TriShield

I like Pork as much as the next guy but the Beef fatty sounds more palatable for me.
The Pork fatties I've had have all been too salty for me,good but salty.

I'm with you Dave. I loves me some pork, and when I think BBQ, pork is all I think. But me and my wife both felt all bloated from salt after we ate the fattie I made. I think it was primarily from the chorizo I used though.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by 68TriShield

I like Pork as much as the next guy but the Beef fatty sounds more palatable for me.
The Pork fatties I've had have all been too salty for me,good but salty.

Were they just straight sausage or sausage + rub + possibly a sauce?

If it was a home made rub with a lot of salt, or a commercial rub, most of which are loaded with salt, between the sausage, bacon and that, I can see how the food could quickly get to having too much sodium.

One thing about using ground beef, turkey or chicken, or even ground pork, versus sausage, besides the taste, is a texture difference and how it binds when it cooks. To me, the ground beef/turkey/chicken/pork is for burgers and meatballs, I really don't care much for the texture in much any other capacity - but that's just me.

I would think any decent butcher could make some low-sodium sausage by request, especially if it's not cased, for them, that only takes minutes to toss everything in the grinder and hit the start button.

I think there are some commercial low-sodium sausages out there too, but don't quote me on that, I'd have to look in the meat case next time I'm at the market. I thought I saw something in there that said that I could be mistaken.

[68TriShield]

Originally Posted by T.G

Were they just straight sausage or sausage + rub + possibly a sauce?

Sausage plus a rub IIRC.

[T.G]

Could have been the combo of the sodium in the sausage and the salt in the rub.

Stuff like that is why I tweaked all my rubs to be salt fee. Basically, between marinade, rub and coatings, I turned a 6 or 7lb pork shoulder into a BBQ'ed salt lick one weekend.

[OLS]

Originally Posted by T.G

Stuff like that is why I tweaked all my rubs to be salt fee.

I did that too when I deided to make that bulk batch I ended up wearing a good percentage of.
You can't get the salt out of the meat later, better to put it ON later.
I still forget to sprinkle it on when the meat is hot. But better to heat
up a big plate of BBQ and take a bite and think, 'dangit, salt', than 'DANGIT...SALTY'!

[Mr B]

Adam, that Mexican Fatty looks great. Nice job!

[yachties23]

Sausage and Bacon both on sale this week, first attempt at a fattie (construction tonight, cooking tomorrow) Details and pics, hopefully to follow tomorrow.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by OLS

But better to heat
up a big plate of BBQ and take a bite and think, 'dangit, salt', than 'DANGIT...SALTY'!

Truer words have never been spoken.

Originally Posted by Mr B

Adam, that Mexican Fatty looks great. Nice job!

Thanks bro. It seemed to be pretty popular at the herf, the entire large one was consumed.

[yachties23]

First attempt at fattie..... I give it an "eh"

Pics will follow at some point, my camera is currently at my girlfriends.

Used Italian sausage, stuffed with polenta (creamy italian cornmeal mixture) sautéed red and green pepper and yellow onion. Lined with cheddar cheese, and rolled up. Bacon Weave came out pretty good.


Issues I noticed:

I left the sausage too thick. It most definitely needed to be flattened out more.
The combo of Italian sausage and bacon seemed too salty, must find a way around this. All and all the Polenta with the sausage and peppers reminded me of something my grandma used to make, and I think with a few tweaks it could be really awesome.

[T.G]

A pizza inspired fatty for the herf at Grant (groogs) house with DBall on the last day of 2010.



Most of the ingredients...olive oil, tomato paste, Pomi marinara, pickled banana peppers (homegrown / homemade),"exotic" mushrooms (changed my mind - didn't end up using these...), oil marinated artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, bread crumbs, Thai basil (homegrown), 3-cheese blend, provlone, sausage, green onions, pepperoni, sulfurless sun dried tomatoes.
Not shown: one MORE lb of sausage, dried marjoram, dried thyme, oregano, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, my salt-free spicy BBQ rub.


Mix marinara sauce with tomato paste plus a teaspoon or so of salt-free spicy rub and a teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Since marinara sauces vary in thickness you just kind of eyeball the amount of tomato paste until you achieve the desired consistancy, you are looking for...


...a thick sauce. Drag the spoon through it and it takes a bit longer than a few moments to fall back in. This sauce should be made first, as to allow the flavors to blend and settle.


Mince a few cloves of garlic - this is about four or five cloves, I only ended up using about half of it. Toss this minced garlic, red pepper flakes (didn't measure, photo should give idea how much I used), fresh ground black pepper, kosher salt and a splash of olive oil into a frying pan to sauté. Garlic should be fried until golden brown.


Set some water up to boil. As the water is heating, cut up the sun dried tomatoes into slivers. Toss all of these slivers into a heat proof bowl and pour boiling water over them to cover. Wait 30 seconds, then dump/strain off all water.

[T.G]

(sorry, no photo - gloves too greasy)
Now, mix the sausage with the breadcrumbs (preferably homemade that way there is no additional salt being introduced). Fold breadcrumbs in gradually as you knead/fold the sausage. The breadcrumbs were a new addition to the procedure, my thought being that I wanted to make the sausage more workable, improve the binding and reduce how it sticks to the hands. I ended up using about a cup or so breadcrumbs for three lbs sausage, which was actually a lot more than I had expected, and less than I needed. After cooking, I was really pleased with the end results so I think the bread crumbs will stay on as a normal ingredient in my fatty recipes.

Also, toss in a few dashes of thyme, rosemary, oregano, marjoram and basil.


Divide the sausage mix in half, press out first half of sausage, coat with the tomato sauce mixture.


Slice cheese into strips to facilitate rolling, add to fatty.


Add quartered artichoke hearts, if using oil cured, blot out excess oil before adding to fatty. Add sliced mushrooms (note - these are not the same mushrooms as pictured initially - I changed my mind on the the taste combo and went with "plain" mushrooms).


Add sliced kalamata olives and sliced green onions.


Cut pepperoni into strips, add to fatty. Dice some mild pickled bannna peppers add them and the sautéed garlic. Add spices - thyme, rosemary, oregano, marjoram and basil.

[T.G]

Roll up like you would if making sushi, california rolls in particular. Press as much air out of the roll as possible, seal ends and tie off saran wrap. Place on tray in refrigerator overnight or in freezer for a few hours if cooking the same day.


Into the smoker they go - don't forget to spray/wipe some cooking oil on the tray or they will stick.
As much as I like hickory, it didn't seem very pizza like, so I used two chunks of oak and one chunk of cherry wood for smoke.


After about two hours at 220F-ish. Time to pull them and wrap in a few layers of foil for oven finishing later.


Uh-oh...


UH-OH...

[T.G]

UH-OH... Cheese hemorrhage... I must have pressed out the sausage too thin in one spot or I over did it when I was pressing the air out and had a piece of cheese poke through the sausage.

Wrap the fatties up in a few layers of HD aluminum foil and seal the ends well.


These were taken to Grant's house, then finished by placing the unopened foil packs on a 1/4 sheet pan (cookie sheet) and placing in a 275F oven for one hour. In retrospect I think 45mins at 250F would have been sufficient.


With one of Grant's awesome burgers (the benefit of having your own cow is an almost unmatched meat quality) and April's macaroni salad.


Close-up.


Darrell's (Skywalker) epic fatty burger. (photo by Darrell)

Sorry about the long chain of posts, hopefully that answers some of the questions from the herf of "How did you make that?" and "What's in there?" and inspires someone to try something new in their smoker, as a similar photo series did for me at one time.

[Steve]

[justonemorestick]

Looks Good May Have to try it.