Chili Cheese Dog Fatty

Chili Cheese Dog Fatty!

Why would anyone want to make such a monster? Because you can AND it was really incredible! Also - July is National Hot Dog Month - do you really need any more reasons?!?



You can add just about anything you want to a fatty or bacon explosion. The list of potential ingredients are limited only by your imagination. I had a hankerin' for a chili cheese dog but we were on our way to a friend's house and they wanted me to bring an appetizer. I don't think this is what they had in mind but it blew them away and there was none left.

The ingredient list is really basic:

• Bacon - 2lbs of thick cut


• Sausage - 5 links of Italian Hot but you could also use 2 lbs of Jimmy Dean Spicy in the chub pack.


• Cheese - about 3 cups of shredded mild cheddar.


• Hot Dogs - 5 all beef dogs


• Chili - 1 can of no bean Hormel or similar chili


• Dry Rub - I used Sweet Mesquite but you can use whatever you prefer to add some flavor
  

Course shred the cheese and chop the hot dogs into small pieces. I didn't want to over chop the hot dogs but they could have been chopped a bit smaller. Mix with the can of chili.

Spinkle a heavy layer of dry rub on the bacon weave. Empty the sausage casings and layer onto the bacon weave about a 1/4" thick.

Now the tricky part - how do you get all that stuffing into the middle of the fatty so it doesn't blow out. Simple - the Fatty Piston - make your own with these instructions.
Get all of your ingredients in your Fatty Piston and extrude the stuffing onto the fatty.

You can see from the pictures that a layer of Saran wrap was placed under the basket weave. This makes it SOOOO easy to roll up the Fatty. Simply lift up the Saran wrap and slowly roll the weave ensuring the stuffing stays inside. You can then use the Saran wrap and twist the ends to store the Fatty until ready for cooking. This will help keep the shape of the Fatty.

I smoked the fatty on my Traeger Smoker at 225 F until the internal temp was 165F. You could also bake the Fatty in the oven. Another option is to cook the Fatty on a gas grill as long as you cook on the indirect side - DO NOT cook bacon over an open flame and always be aware of the fat rendering out of the bacon and ensure you do not start a grease fire.

Slice the Fatty in 1/2" to 1" slices. Serve Hot! Good luck keeping the slices of incredible goodness around for long.

A serving suggestion is a few different types of mustards to dip in!

Good luck keeping this bad boy around for very long! I brought this as an appetizer but could also be served on a roll as a sandwich or a late night snack!

Figs + Brie

Figs and Brie - Smoked!
This recipe is simple and quick - it takes longer to cook than it does to prep and eat. Two ingredients - Figs and Brie. This dish is a perfect afternoon snack or an appetizer for a fancy dinner party.

The brie is available year around in almost any store. You can select any quality that suits your taste. The figs on the other hand may be difficult to find. Figs are usually ripe in early to mid summer. Farmer's Markets are a good source or if you live in southern to mid latitude U.S., fig trees are easy to grow and produce lots of fruit each year. I have a Black Mission Fig Tree in my back yard and it produces two sets of fruit per season. Fig trees grow fast and can almost double in size per year if pruned properly.

I used an 8" x 6" corning baking dish. One round of brie was sliced into quarter inch slices. For each round, use about 8 average size figs. Remove the stem and bottom from each fig and then slice in 1/4" slices.

Stack and alternate the brie and figs in the baking dish.

If you want to add any additional flavors, you can sprinkle some seasonings across the top.

I put this dish into the smoker at 250F for about an hour or until the brie is completely soft and the figs start to reduce and boil a bit at the edges of the dish. You can easily bake this in the oven at the same temp. The cheese is already pretty flavorful so it didn't pick up as much smoke flavor as I was looking for but the wow factor was there when you open up the BBQ Pit.

I served this hot with various crackers.

Dig in! Let's eat!

Tri-Tip - Santa Maria Style

Santa Maria Style Tri-Tip -

This recipe has been a standard in California - primarily the central coast area since the late 50's due to a little bit of creative marketing. Some history about the cut of meat can be found here.

Most basic tri-tip recipes include black pepper, garlic and salt. A simple seasoning for a fantastic cut of meat - and if cooked correctly, absolutely incredible!



A Southern California company called Rooftop BBQ (also a fellow Competitive BBQ Team) has a fantastic rub that I highly recommend. Check them out when you get a chance. All their products are great!

For this recipe, I used the Rooftop Rub but if you haven't ordered yours yet or it hasn't arrived, you can substitute this for the following (per tri-tip):

Black Pepper - 1 1/2 tblspn
Granulated Garlic - 1 1/2 tblsn
Salt (Sea Salt is best) - 1 1/2 tblspn

and the rest:

Olive Oil - 1/4 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
White Wine Vinegar - 2 tspn

Mix well and place mixture and tri-tip in a zip lock bag for 2 hours. I let mine go for 4 hours.

I smoked mine at 225F using mesquite. Beef is one of the only meats, in my opinion, that can handle the heavy flavor imparted by mesquite. The historical choice is oak but this is one cut of meat that has enough flavor all on its' own to hold up to any wood / fuel choice.

If you don't have a smoker, you can cook this on a gas grill by turning the burners on low on one side and cooking on the cool side. A oven thermometer placed on the cool side - NEVER place the thermometer in open flame area - and adjust your flame so the grate temp on the cool side is around 225 or as low as you can get it.

The key to successfully cooking a great piece of tri-tip is to pull it off the grill at the correct internal temperature.

There are two schools of thought on tri-tip - to sear or not to sear. If you have the capacity to sear, I recommend it. For this method, as soon as the internal temp hits 130, move the tri-tip to a high heat - direct flame area and sear on each side for 3 - 4 minutes. The internal temp should be around 140F at this point.

If you do not have access to a direct flame area, cook the tri-tip until it hits between 137 and 142F.

The final internal temp will be determined by how well done you like your beef. Whatever your preference, I would avoid exceeding 145F internal temp. The meat will continue to cook and the internal temp will continue to rise a few degrees while it rests. If you let the temp climb much past 145, I think the meat starts to get tough.

Once the cooking process is done and the desired internal temp is reached, wrap the tri-tip in foil, then in a beach towel, and place in a clean, dry cooler for at least 30 minutes so the meat can rest.

You can see that after this tri-tip has rested for 1 hour, the internal temp has climbed to 150F. Probably a little too hot for me but it came out a solid medium. I like to shoot for a final internal temp of 145 but the kids and boss like it a little more done.

Slice the tri-tip across the grain in slices about 1/4" thick. Tri-tip is tricky and the grain of the meat does shift throughout the piece of meat. Just keep watching the grain and adjust your slicing direction as you progress through the meat.

Plated up with some smoked chicken breast and some corn on the cob. Let's eat!