By Clark Shelton
In December 2008, Jason Day and Aaron Chronister, experienced BBQ competitors, came up with a recipe using bacon and sausage for tailgaters at bowl and NFL football games. The Bacon Explosion became a huge success overnight. I have made it every year during the holidays for friends, and 5 years later no one has had a heart attack from it. It can be baked or smoked (prefer smoked) and is a true delight for the pork aficianado. Feel free to experiment with different sauces and rubs, different “fillings”, even different sausages–just don’t mess with the key ingredient : BACON!
PREP: Approx. 30 minutes Ingredients: 2 lbs bacon (thick cut best and local even better), 1 lb. Spicy or sweet Italian Sausage, 1 Sweet Vidalia onion, 1/4 lb shredded sharp cheddar or similar flavorful cheese, Dry BBQ rub ( I like Savory Spice Shop Memphis BBQ rub) , Favorite BBQ Sauce (once again local works best).
First you want 2 lbs of bacon. Start cooking one pound. Take the other and start laying out strips side by side the length of one slice. Take remaining uncooked bacon and start weaving into a mat as seen in the picture. This takes a little practice, but keep it tight until it looks like the pic.
Now generously apply dry rub!
Take 1lb. of sausage and gently roll out until it is spread out over the “bacon mat”.
Add more dry rub,chopped onions,cheese,and cooked bacon.
Now comes the trick: gently roll the sausage away from the bacon mat into a log. Now take your bacon mat and roll it the opposite direction around your sausage log. At this point it should look like above: (after smothering the roll in BBQ Sauce).
Now wrap it in foil. Put on your smoker, or in your oven in a pan with a grate (without foil) at 375 for one hour. If using a smoker, unwrap it about an hour in, and then put on some more BBQ Sauce so it gets that nice caramelization. If you want crisp bacon when in cooking in the oven stick it under the broiler for 5-10 minutes. The final product should look like this:
Slice it into thin slices (3/4″ thick) and enjoy! Feeds approx. 8-10. Got some left over? Just toss it on a griddle the next morning and heat it up, top with an egg and wrap it in a biscuit!
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