South of the Border Fatty

South of the Border Fatty

 

Ok, here is the recipe I promised for The South of the Border Fatty we did with all those ribs for our Valentine’s Day dinner. Not a romantic meal, but really, really good.

For Valentine’s Day this year we had 4 couples and a few stray friends from our Church over for dinner. I had it all planned out. We would do 8 styles of ribs, plated real nice with a little card that explained what kind of rub and the style I was trying to create. Well, that didn’t work. We had so many ribs that I could only tell if they were beef or pork spare ribs, St. Louis or baby backs. Plus, chipotle bacon bombs, Patti’s famous homemade mac & cheese, Ken’s awesome baked beans and grilled peaches.

At the same time Patti and I made a new Fatty we named “The South of the border Fatty”!

Our new fatty was jam packed with over 2 lbs. of Pepper Jack Cheese, sliced jalapenos, sweet onions, 4 kinds of sausage weighing in over 6 pounds, and 4 lbs. of bacon. Taco seasoning, red pepper and a goodly amount of Country Bob’s, too. This big boy rolled up at a whopping 12 pounds. Patti loves to eat them; she just doesn’t try to lift a whole one.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 3 Hours

Grill: Traeger

Pellets: Oak

 

Ingredients: South of the Border Fatty

 

2 lbs. hot Italian sausage

2 lbs. pepper and onion sausage

2 lbs. breakfast sausage

1 lb. wine and cheese sausage

4 lbs. pepper bacon

2 large sweet onions, chopped

2 lbs.  Pepper Jack cheese

12 oz. shredded Mexican cheese mix

10 or 12 cloves of garlic chopped (I use a lot more, see picture below)

Coarse ground black pepper, to taste

Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

1 small can of sliced jalapeno peppers

½ cup Taco seasoning

Country Bob’s all purpose sauce

 

Directions:

Put the sausage in a large mixing bowl, mixing in the onions, garlic, taco seasoning, black and red pepper. Put the bowl into the fridge to let everything blend for awhile. (At least an hour.)

Mix meat and seasoning in a big bowl.

 

Next, press the meat out until it is 1 inch thick. I have found the easiest way to do this is to line a cookie sheet with freezer wrap leaving enough hanging over the end to help roll up the Fatty. Press the meat down evenly onto the cookie sheet.

 

Press the meat down evenly onto the lined cookie sheet.

 

Cook 2 pounds of the bacon until it is still limp and cut it into bite size pieces. I find that kitchen shears are best for this, but a sharp knife works well, too.  Add the sliced jalapenos and bacon.

Jalapeno Peppers, Onions and Bacon

 

Add Pepper Jack Cheese

 

Cut the cheese into ½ x ½ strips and lay it out so that is layered as you roll it up.  Cover it with the shredded cheese.

 

Drizzle some Country Bob’s Sauce

 

Drizzle some Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce on top and you are ready to roll. Use the paper to start rolling up the meat. It will try to come out the ends, so just pack it in tight.

Use the paper to start rolling up the meat.

 

Place it on a large cooking grate

 

Ready for the Grill

 

Do a basket weave with the last 2 pounds of bacon. Place it on a cooking grate that you can set on the grill. You can see below I put it on to a smaller cooking grate to make moving it to and from the grill easier. Patti suggested we invest in a crane…Nah. Then, I put my bacon weave on it and off to the grill. I don’t think you would be able to move this monster without tearing it if you didn’t use a cooking grate much less get it off the grill when you are ready.

Can you see the smoke ring with all the cheese and bacon?

 

Slice it up and serve it on a bun or just on a plate. It’s great either way.

 

 

Cooking Directions: Traeger

 

Open the lid and set the dial to “smoke”, after a few minutes shut the lid. Give it about 10 minutes to heat up. Patti lined the drip pan with foil to make for easy clean up. Place the Fatty on a smaller grill and then directly onto the grill and just let it hang out in the smoke and get happy for 30 minutes or so.

 

After 30 minutes, turn the digital control up to 250 degrees. This will give you a temperature around 300 at the stack or dome thermometer. Just let it go for 2½ hours. No peeking.

 

After 2 ½ hours, turn the digital control back to the smoke setting for another half hour.  Brush on your finishing sauce. Tonight, I used some Country Bob’s mixed 50/50 with some cranberry juice. The same sauce I was using for the ribs I had going.

 

When your internal temp reaches 160 degrees you are good to go…

 

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill. Tonight I used Country Bob’s Sauce and cranberry juice. The cranberry juice is a natural tenderizer. Keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 50/50 Country Bob’s and cranberry juice)

 

Gas Grill: Low Indirect Heat with a Cooking Grate

Preheat your grill to medium heat (250) and turn off one side so you will be cooking with indirect heat. Add your wet wood to the fire. Oil the cooking grate. (You’ll want to use a cooking grate with small holes that sits on your grills large grate.) A cooking spray is easiest for this.  

When your internal temp reaches 160 degrees you are good to go…

 

Preparing Charcoal Smoker

Get the smoker ready, you will want your temperature of around 180-225 degrees. Remember, you are going low and slow here. This will take all day (4 hours); make sure you have plenty of cold beer.

When your internal temp reaches 160 degrees you are good to go…

Cooking In the Oven:

We have been getting requests for recipe conversions for the oven. I tell folks all the time that cooking on a Traeger is just as easy as cooking in your oven. Patti calls herself the “Grill Mistress” because she loves cooking outdoors and the Traeger is so easy to use. Just about anyone can do it and do it well. Think about it. You set your control knob to the temp you want, put your meat in and leave it for a set time.

It is the same thing. Time and temp. Is what it is all about. The Traeger is just like your oven except it uses wood pellets and has wheels.

If you want to smoke in your oven they sell oven smokers for that. I, myself, would not spend the money on one of those when you can make your own out of foil.

Foil smoke packets. (Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.) Just set it in the oven. You might want to make sure you turn on your vent fan or your house will fill up with smoke. You will give your alarms a good work out.

About our Recipes

We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills, including Traeger, Charmglow, Char-Broil, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles will fit pellet heads, gas, natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of a good BBQ.

The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot. But, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors! But, sometimes it does rain.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Enjoy,

Ken & Patti

 

Hey, if you are interested in learning more about Traeger Grills or for fine meats and sausages for your grill, go see Jacob. He is a Sausage Meister and we are not kidding. If you get a chance, go and see him. It will be a fun day trip. (Take an ice chest; we always fill up a big one.) Or check him out @ www.tandhsausage.com or call him 760 471- 9192.

Al Malekovic makes a fine all purpose sauce. Patti uses it for seasoning all kinds of things, but I like it on burgers and steaks. “Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce”

Check it out, for a free bottle go to his web site or email him. If you email him, tell him that you saw it here and we used it all up and to send us more...

 www.countrybobs.com    or  Al@countrybobs.com

I have NO PAID ADS on our site at this time. But I am lucky that a few folks think well enough of our site that they have sent us samples to review. To me it is real simple, the things I don’t care for I don’t use and you don’t hear about. The Good Stuff I use a lot. If folks keep sending it, and we like it, I’ll keep using it.

I have no problem with any one sending money either … LOL.