Smokin some Fatties, again, not those kind of fatties, and some grilled beans

This is not the first post I have done about smoking fatties on the grill. You can see the write-up of previously smoked fatties here. And I will say again that they are not that kind of fatty. A fatty is simply smoked bulk sausage. Often it is breakfast sausage. Sometimes they are stuffed and sometimes they aren't. Sometimes they are sweet and sometimes spicy. The number of different ways to cook fatties is limitless.

I smoked two fatties in this cookout. One is the recipe that I get the most raves about; sage sausage stuffed with cheese, and a new recipe that I created on the fly; regular sausage stuffed with yellow pepper, white corn and cheddar. I also grilled some beans.

In the spirit of trying to be more quantitative I actually did some measuring and wrote down amounts for the recipe. Click below to find those measurements...

Here are the basic ingredients I used for the two fatties:

In the picture above are two different kinds of sausage. The sage sausage was used with the garlic, asiago, havarti and garlic. The regular sausage was used with the garlic, asiago, yellow pepper and sweet white corn. What I omitted from this picture was granulated garlic that I used as a rub on both fatties.

Let's start with the sage fatty first. The ingredients are as follows:

1 LB of sage breakfast sausage (other types of sausage can be used)
1/3 LB of havarti cheese (I have uses white cheddar in the past)
2 heaping tbsp of minced garlic
1/2 cup of loosely packed asiago cheese
10 turns of a pepper grinder
Enough granulated garlic to dust the outside

Combine the sausage, garlic, asiago and black pepper in a mixing bowl. Sausage and garlic:

Now the asiago and black pepper:

Using your hands mix the ingredients together well. Really get in there and squish it all up. Then spread the meat on a piece of wax paper and spread out evenly:

Chunk up the havarti and place in the middle of the sausage leaving plenty of room around the edge to seal the cheese in. Here I chunked up an entire half pound of havarti. I know I said only a 1/3 pound above. I had too much:

When I tried to roll it over to seal the cheese inside the sausage I realized I had either too much cheese or not enough sausage:

So I pulled some of the cheese out:

That's more like it:

I simply rolled the sausage up and patted it really well to get rid of any cracks or crevices. Then I dusted the outside with granulated garlic:

I placed the fatty in a gallon plastic bag and put it in the freezer to firm up a bit and on to my second fatty; yellow pepper, sweet white corn and cheddar stuffed fatty:

1 LB of regular breakfast sausage (again, use what you like, it's your fatty!!)
1/2 yellow pepper chunked
1 small ear of white corn with the kernels sliced off (you can used canned or yellow corn, but fresher is better)
1/4 pound cheddar cheese
2 heaping tbsp of minced garlic
1/2 cup of loosely packed asiago cheese
10 turns of a pepper grinder
Enough granulated garlic to dust the outside

Here we have the yellow pepper chunked into half inch chunks and the kernels from a small ear of white corn.

These ingredients are not going to cook enough while insulated inside the sausage so I precooked them a bit. First the yellow pepper in a skillet in a little olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes:

Then add the corn for another three minutes:

While the corn and pepper are sautéing, mix the sausage, garlic, asiago and black pepper up in a bowl very well and place on a piece of wax paper as before. Then place the cheddar along the middle of the meat:

Spoon the peppers and corn over the cheese:

Roll up the sausage and pat it well anywhere there seems to be a crack or a crevice and dust with granulated garlic.

I put this fatty in gallon plastic bag and into the freezer as well to firm up. I left both in the freezer between 20 and 30 minutes. Then I got to work on my beans. Here is a shot of the ingredients:

2 - 1 LB cans of just original baked beans (you can use other varieties but you will be adding tons of flavor on your own that you don't need any other varieties but it is up to you)
2 heaping tbsp minced garlic
4 heaping tbsp of brown sugar
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of honey mustard
1/4 cup of honey
2 tsp of hoisin sauce (optional and not in the picture)
10 turns of a pepper grinder
2 sliced of maple bacon (other bacon can be used and you will need enough to cover the top with one inch square pieces so this number may vary)

Dump all ingredients except the bacon into an oven safe pot and mix together well as this will be the last time you stir them until they are ready to be served:

Slice the bacon up into one inch squares and cover the top leaving gaps between each piece. If you don't leave a gap the pieces will insulate each other and take much longer to cook:

Now out to my smoker. I made a few modifications to my offset in order to keep the temp up and more constant and this was my first chance to try them out. You can see the modifications here.

For this session I will be using apricot wood. Very similar to apple:

There are a bunch of different woods you can use for this. For a pretty extensive write up about different smoke woods click here.

After spending some time modding my grill to keep the temp up a windy day wiped that effort away in seconds. After 30 minutes I was getting a boatload of smoke but the temp was struggling to get to 150:

I needed 300 for these for 2 hours. If I left it at 150 it would take closer to 8 hours so it was time to improvise. I took the grill grate off that was on the opposite side of my firebox in the main chamber and added a pile of hot coals:

Within minutes the temp started to climb:

After an hour of heavy smoke at 150f (took me another 30 minutes to get a half chimney of coals hot) I was cooking at close to 300 at which point my cheese started to ooze out of my sage fatty which is why both are sitting on foil to save that cheese:

My pepper and corn stuffed fatty is doing just fine:

While carrying my chilled cheese stuffed fatty outside I bumped it and split it open a bit. Trying to pat it back together when that cold didn't work all that well so I had the foil under it from the beginning.

Here are both fatties with some smoke rising up:

About 90 minutes into the process the bacon on the beans is browning up as are the fatties:

Now I am building up quite a bit of grease in the foil:

This is easy solved with the probe from my remote thermometer. I just poked a hole in the foil of each fatty to let the fat drain out:

Here we have 2 hours in:

At 2.5 hours everything is ready to come off the grill. Remember, they only need 2 hours at 275-300 but I got off to a slow start:

Here are the fatties resting. Despite the cheese oozing out of the one already, I let them rest for about 10 minutes. If I were to slice into them earlier the hot cheese would run right out:

Here are the beans. That bacon has rendered its fat into the beans during the cooking process to add that extra flavor punch that only bacon fat seems to provide:

Here are my fatties ready to be sliced. The cheese has cooled enough on the outside that it actually stuck to the meat rather than the foil:

Here we have the sage cheese stuffed fatty:

Here is a close up so you can see the nice smoke ring:

And here is the yellow pepper/white corn/cheddar stuffed fatty:


These are so much fun to do and so simple. You really should try one. Follow one of my recipes or try your own. The possibilities are endless!!

As for what I would do differently, well, I may be at my wits end with the offset smoker. I may be in the market for a vertical smoker in the near future so check back to see what I can create in one of those…



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Time to Demystify Prime Rib. It may be expensive but it's also very easy

Prime Rib is another one of those things that people love to eat but are afraid to cook. We've already gone over how easy Lobster Tails are to cook on the grill as well as boil in a pot. And while it is the perfect time to practice on lobster as the prices are at an all time low, Prime Rib is still, well... Prime. It's not cheap. So that fear of screwing up an expensive cut like that is still there. I'm asking you to face your fear. It's not hard. Do it just one time and I guarantee that you will wonder why you hadn't tried this before. You will also laugh at yourself for that fear you had of Prime Rib.

My Dad done this for years and has it down to a science and has documented it perfectly in this post. Just follow his lead and you will be blown away by the results. Click below to see how he does it and just how simple this is...

Many are intimidated by the thought of placing this large expensive cut of meat on the grill. Inspired a few years ago, by Master Raichlen, I've tackled this numerous times with repeated success ( I've never had a bad result ). It's a simple indirect grilling method that requires the time and/or temperature to be monitored to achieve the desired outcome. The Standing Rib Roast can usually be obtained 'bone-in' or 'boneless' at most markets however it is not frequently displayed in the meat case until winter holiday season arrives. If your store doesn't display this item just ask the meat cutter to prepare one for you. It's simply a sliced chunk of whole rib eye:

Should your choice be a 'bone-in' roast ( G-Fools always prefer this but boneless will do also ) then the ribs should be 'frenched'. Cut the layer of fat covering the ends of the rib bones all the way to the bone:

Upon reaching the bone twist the knife toward the end of the ribs and cut this section away and remove as shown:

Next trim the pieces of meat between the bones and retain ( Mimi says they should become 'nibblers' to be enjoyed while the roast is cooking--she is her father's daughter indeed ):

Should your roast have a heavy layer of fat you could remove that at this time. This one was well-trimmed already and a little fat melting and basting over the roast while grilling is a good thing.

** Editor;s Note - Frenching the Rib Roast is not required. The presentation is better this way but some would argue that the fat rendering down over the roast during the cooking from that section can add flavor as well. This is your personal preference. If for the first time you don't want to French the roast you do not have to by any means**

Next, using a sharp knife, make slits about an inch apart and half inch deep over the prime rib. Insert slivers of sliced garlic cloves into each slit.

Time to make the Rub. Here are the ingredients:

2--tsp. garlic salt
2--tsp. onion salt
2--tsp. hickory-smoked salt
2--tsp. dried rosemary
1--tsp. black pepper
2--tsp. Canadian steak seasoning ( optional )

Another option is adding a tsp. of dried mustard--strictly a taste preference.

** Editor's Note - I prefer to use granulated garlic and onion or powders rather than salts and simply add some coarse salt to the rub myself. I have a hard time gauging exactly how much salt is in the premade salts. The roast will require some salt. It's up to you to decide how to apply it. Also if you use fresh rosemary increase the amount 50%. Dried herbs are more concentraded than fresh **

Pat the rub into the entire surface area of the roast.

The old Charbroil was set up for indirect grilling method--coals on the left and right with the roast in the center. Several cups of hickory chips were soaked in water an hour or so before grilling and were added frequently during the grilling time. Adjust the amount of wood chips to your tast. We don't want to overpower the meat but we are trying to achieve that special hickory smoked flavor into the roast. Other woods may be used such as mesquite ( I'd leave the hickory-smoked salt out of the rub if you go this route ).


** What a view, huh? **

Here are the 'nibblers':

Cooking time for this 6 lb. roast will be approximately 2-21/2 hours or until 145 degrees internal temperature if using a thermometer ( medium rare ). Cooking time may vary depending on the heat efficiency of your grill and number of coals added. The Charbroil charcoal grate was set on the lowest level for this session.

** Editor's note - A piece of meat this large will require a good deal of resting time after it is removed from the grill. In this case 10-15 minutes. Resting allows for the internal juices to settle down and not run out of the meat as soon as you cut into it. If you cut into it right away that is exactly what will happen. While the roast is resting it will continue to cook. So if you like your prime rib medium, you may want to pull it off a little short of medium so when it is done resting you will have it just the way you like it **

Now it's time for the 'chillin' side of the evening ( my favorite part sometimes ). The wine selected for the event was a 2005 B Side Cab. Sauv. I hadn't sipped a cab for a while and thought it should pair nicely with the prime rib. It was corked and poured to 'air a bit' prior to the photo. Of course I had to take a sip to see if it was a worthy choice. It says on the cork 'music to your mouth,' and it was. I didn't wait for dinner with this one and began enjoying it during the entire grilling process. On the back label of the bottle it states the wine is vinted and bottled by 'Three Loose Screws'...how appropriate for 'Three Grillin' Fools'?!?

While the prime rib is gently smoking preparations are begun for the sides and garnish. Horseradish sauce made with sour cream and horseradish was prepared ( mixed to taste ). Yellow squash was washed and sliced then drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt and coarse ground pepper to be 'skillet-grilled' later while the roast is resting. During the last half hour of the grilling session Mimi was busy preparing risotto with roasted pine-nuts ( might be our favorite dish ever ).

One hour into the process the prime rib is browning nicely and the 'nibblers' are crispy. A few more coals are added along with additional hickory chips. The 'nibblers' were delivered to Mimi and disappeared quickly between the two of us:

Two hours into the process and ready to be pulled from the grill:

Here's the finished product that will rest on the cutting board under a tent of aluminum foil. The aluminum foil keeps the heat in while the juices come to a rest. A roast this size needs between 10-15 minutes to rest properly:

** Editor's note - Nice job centering the empty part of the cutting board in the pic. How much of that wine did you have by this time? **

The result was medium-rare to rare and was very tasty when combined with the horseradish sauce. Note the rib bones were removed to enable smaller slices to be made ( we intend yield 3 meals from this for the 2 of us ). Leave the bones in and you will get much thicker slices. While the roast was tented and resting the yellow squash was skillet-grilled just to the point of retaining firmness but still picking up that delicious grilled flavor:

Mimi's risotto was finished and this is what the plated effort looks like:

Don't let this meal intimidate you any longer. Sure it is expensive, but it's much cheaper to do it at home than it to order it in a restaurant. Dazzle your friends and relatives by grilling this very tasty roast.

** I'm so jealous I wasn't able to be there for this!! **

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