Championship Sunday

What a beautiful day it was to smoke some meat! Mason and I were even able to enjoy the morning sun and prepped the smoker before church. 

Just like today's NFL action my smoking adventure was a double feature.  Part one was a Sausage Fatty and Part Two was baby back ribs. But unlike the NFL slate both parts of the menu were fantastic.

Note: Today I smoked with apple wood at temperature of 225.

So without further delay.

Part One: Sausage Fatty

1 lb bacon

1 lb sausage

16 oz cream cheese

10 oz Rotel

Famous Dave's Rib Rub

Step 1: Lattice the bacon. While this looks complicated it's fairly simple.  Layout half of the bacon in horizontal rows, then pull every other slice bacon to the right. Once you have pulled the bacon to the right in an alternating pattern then lay your first vertical slice, then you need to switch each of the horizontal pieces locations.  Repeat until the lattice is complete.  I've attempted a few photos to illustrate this process.

Step 2:  Combine the sausage, cream cheese (softened), and Rotel.  Once it's combined you can place it in an oblong on the bacon.  Once it's on the bacon you can wrap the bacon around the mixture.

Step 3: Season the exterior of the bacon with your favorite rub. Now it's ready for the smoker.

I need up smoking this sausage fatty for 3 hours.  It turned out fantastic.  This was much better than my first attempt at a similar recipe as the first time is used too much wood and ended up with a creosote tasting wood.  Bacon and sausage are very delicate for smoking so be careful to not use too much wood.

Part Two: Ribs

1 slab baby ribs

M1 Rub (my first attempt at a homemade rub, it should be M1.1 though because it's already been modified once)

Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Step 1:  Remove the membrane from the back of the rips.  If you are unfamiliar with ribs they have a thin membrane on the back that leave the ribs tough if left on.  To remove it you can stick the tip of a knife underneath to separate the membrane from the ribs and then it can just be pulled off.

Step 2:  Coat the ribs with olive oil.  This helps hold moisture in during the cook (I don't foil my ribs).

Step 3:  Apply the rub.  You should still be able to see the meat through the rub when you are done.

Step 4:  Smoke until the ribs become tender.  When they are done you should be able to pick them up and see "cracks" in the meat.  Contrary to popular opinion ribs should not "fall off the bone".  For ribs there is not set time for cooking.  Today they were ready at 4 hours but I've had them take 5.5 hours.

Step 5: Once the ribs are ready coat with barbecue and return to the grill.  Now you just want to get the sauce to a tacky point.  This part of the process doesn't take long and you don't want to caramelize the barbecue sauce.

Both items were fantastic!  If you ever have any questions feel free to contact me!

Thanks again for reading!

m_overbey@hotmail.com