Farmer John Hawaiian Fatty

Farmer John Hawaiian Fatty - aka - 808 State Fatty

Part 1 in a series of "What to do with your left over Farmer John Ham".  You made a mouth watering ham for your holiday meat guests and there's some left over.  The standard Ham & Cheese sandwich sounds good but how about making something that will knock the socks off of your New Years weekend guests?!?  Rose Bowl, Pro Football or even Basketball fans need something to snack on while they are watching the game.  This snack is perfect for Padre fans but even a Dodger fan could appreciate the awesomeness that is the 808 State Fatty!

808 State is slang for anything Hawaiian - because the area code for any telephone number in Hawaii is 808.  Cool right?!?

Farmer John is a very popular pork processor / producer here in Southern California.  They are responsible for the very popular Dodger Dog.  Even a hard core San Diego Padre fan can appreciate the succulent Dodger Dog - or as us Padre fans call them - Hot Dogs.  You can't attend a BBQ in SoCal without feasting on a Farmer John product hitting the table making them one of the icons and favorites at any family outing - particularly at my house!

 If you haven't heard of a Fatty - it's also called a Bacon Explosion - it's basically a basket weave layer of bacon, a layer of sausage, and then a stuffing of whatever you want!  The ideas are limitless!  In this episode we are making the famous 808 State Fatty - all things Hawaiian AND Farmer John - focusing on our left over holiday Ham.

Here's a list of the ingredients:
Left over Farmer John Ham - about 3 slices
Pineapple - about 1/3 of a fresh pineapple
Farmer John Breakfast Links - 2lbs
Cream Cheese - 8oz Block
Farmer John Thick Cut Bacon - 1.5lbs
Hawaiian Sweet Rolls - 5 rolls


Slice the left over ham in long pieces - about 1" wide x 1" thick.










 I love to use fresh pineapple but of you can't find it, canned pineapple will do in a pinch.

I like to slice the pineapple in 1" wide x 1" thick strips.

Family secret here!  WARNING!  Only pass this secret off to people you love!  Put 2lbs of sausage into a 1 gallon zip lock bag.  Farmer John breakfast links do not have a casing so they are really easy to use.  An alternate is Farmer John sausage that comes in a "chub" pack.  They usually come in a 1lb tube in various flavors.

Put 2lbs of sausage in the zip lock bag and squeeze all the air out of it and flatten it out.

Family Secret #2 - assemble your fatty on a piece of Heavy Duty foil.  You'll see why later!

Family secret #3 - I'm letting it all out here!  Stretch the Farmer John Thick Cut Bacon as you pull it out of the package.  The bacon will stretch an extra 5 - 6 inches.  You'll see why next!

You can see how much you can stretch the bacon!

Now it's time to weave the bacon.  Remember the stretch?  Here's why:  If you stretch the bacon out, the fatty will be BIGGER!  You will be able to make a 16" x 16" square.  If you don't stretch the bacon, the strips of bacon will be about 11".

The bacon weave is the most intimidating part of this recipe.  It isn't difficult - in fact, my 7 year old daughter weaved this one.  Lay out the strips of bacon until it is a square shape.  Then lift up alternating pieces and lay another strip of bacon the opposite direction. 

Put the bacon strips back and then pull back the alternate strip of bacon back so the next strip can lay down.

Keep this process down until you have completed the weave.

Make sure that each strip of bacon is put as close as possible to the neighbor strip.  This is important to ensure the weave doesn't burst and the filling doesn't leak out.

Here's the finished weave.  Notice how tight the gaps are.  This is the key to making a stunning looking Fatty that doesn't leak.

Take your time and make the weave tight!

Remember the 2lbs of sausage that you made into a flat layer of goodness in the 1 gallon zip lock bag?  Now it's time to put that Farmer John flavor to use!  Use a knife and cut / open the sides of the gallon bag.  You can now lay down the layer on top of the weave.  The layer will be even and easy to lay down onto the bacon weave.

These two steps are the basis of all Fatty's.  Now let's stuff it with goodness!

We are making the famous 808 State Fatty.  That means fresh pineapple and Farmer John Ham.

Now we are going to add a block of cream cheese.  Form it into a log about the width of the sausage layer.

808 State Fatty?  Only if you add some Hawaiian King Rolls!  Take 5 rolls and squish them flat!

Place the flattened Hawaiian King Rolls across the width of the sausage layer.

 Remember Family Secret #2?  Assembling the Fatty on Heavy Duty foil?  Now you'll see why.

It's really tough to roll up a fat roll of goodness but if you can use the heavy duty foil to assist in rolling all of this chow into a solid log, you'll be ready for the big time!

Use the foil to make sure that you can roll all this stuff into a log.  Compress the stuffing into the middle.

The end result should look like this - a log of meat surrounded by a bacon weave blanket.  You can wrap the fatty into the foil and store it for a day or so if you aren't ready to cook it immediately.

The nice, tight weave will make sure the stuffing stays inside.  I put this on the smoker at 250F for 4 hours.  The cooking utensil I'm cooking on is called a Frogmat.  These utensils can be used in any indirect cooking surface including your oven and they are completely safe to cook on.  These are great to cook on because they can help cook fragile items like - gulp - vegetables, or better yet - Fatty's - and left them off the grate without breaking them apart.  Well worth the money to be part of any serious BBQ'r arsenal.

Since the ground pork is raw, you need to follow the USDA guidelines and cook the fatty to an internal temperature of 160F .  This usually takes about 3 hours at 250F grate temp on my Royall 3000 Smoker. 

After you reach the internal temp of 160F, let your fatty rest for about 10 - 20 minutes on the counter until you slice it.  I slice the fatty along each strip of bacon.  It's ready to eat at this point - but - if you're really adventurous....   keep reading!

Secret #4 - make the fatty slices.....'



......the most memorable slices of goodness in anyone's memory.....

Poach an egg for each person's slice of fatty....

Place a slice of fatty on top of an English Muffin, top with a poached egg, layer with a super soaked hollandaise sauce and garnish with some fresh cracked black pepper, pink sea salt and some green onions (scallions).

THE perfect meal, appetizer, late night snack, or money dish for any occasion - all because of your left over Holiday Ham!

Thanks Farmer John!

Note:  Farmer John supplied me with the Half Ham used in this recipe.  All other ingredients were purchased for this recipe by me.  I might have had some in my fridge.

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!

Hot Wing Fatty

Hot Wing Fatty.








There are all kinds of ways to make a fatty. A fatty - or Bacon Explosion - is basically:

• A basket weave of bacon.
• A layer of sausage meat.
• Stuffing - whatever you want.
• Roll it up as tight as possible and then smoke / cook until the internal temp is 165 F.

This time I made a Hot Wing Fatty.


Ingredients:

• 2lbs of thick cut bacon. Don't go cheap - get good quality thick cut bacon. It makes the weave better and helps ensure the fatty doesn't blow out or spring a leak during the cook.
• Pre-cooked boneless chicken wings - about half of a 25oz bag.
• Sausage Chub x 2 - I used Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage - seemed to go good.
• Shredded Cheese - about 1 cup.
• Franks Hot Sauce - the ONLY hot wing sauce to use!
• Dry Rub - your favorite - I use Sweet Mesquite from Costco.

Make your basket weave of bacon - here's some more specific instructions. Sprinkle a heavy amount of dry rub / seasonings for some flavor and to make sure the sausage doesn't stick to the bacon when you roll your fatty.





Empty two chubs of the sausage into a 1 gallon zip lock bag. This trick is one of the most useful tricks I have seen. You can also use 5 - 6 uncooked sausage instead of sausage chubs if they are not available. Roll the sausage flat inside the bag.

Cut the bag open on three sides and you can easily flop the flat sausage on top of the basket weave bacon.

Dice up about 1/2 of the bag of boneless hot wings.

Add in about 1 cup of shredded cheese. Pour in about 6oz of Franks Hot Sauce to act as a binding agent.

Use your fatty piston to pack the ingredients into a solid core of goodness. How do you make a fatty piston? See this post.

Extrude the stuffing log onto the layer of sausage and then pour a healthy dose of Franks Hot Sauce over the stuffing.

Add any extra spices or sauce you want to boost that flavor up!

Roll the fatty up as tight as possible.

A simple trick to make the fatty tighter or to store the fatty for cooking later is to wrap it in saran wrap. Wrapping the fatty in Saran wrap will cause the fatty to form up better and it will hold up better on the grate when you are cooking it.

Smoke on the grate at 225F or in the oven at 225F. Cook until internal temp is 165F. This typically takes about 2 hours.

Slice and serve - you can get about 7 - 10 slices out of fatty this size. One slice per person is a great appetizer or side dish serving - or just a snack. You can also slice and the half the slices too.

Serve with a little blue cheese to dip in - Sooooo good! Let's eat!