Bacon Explosion

I had you at bacon didn't I?  I know that's what caught my attention.  While, I have to say, this is not the most budget friendly recipe, it is pretty darn tasty.  Being tasty is definitely a pro on this recipe, the con...I had to run a clean cycle on my oven because of all the grease.  The house got pretty smokey for a while.  Now, I hope my instructions, with the pictures make sense.

Servings 8

Ingredients

Ingredients

1 pound bacon 
1 pound ground beef
1/2 a roll of sausage  
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

Cooking Directions

1. Layout 3X3 bacon weave, bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until near crisp
2. Create meat mixture by mixing the beef and sausage together
3. Layout meat in a rectangle the same size as the first bacon weave
4. Season meat and then place bacon weave on meat
5. Place cheese in center of bacon
6. Roll meat into a tight roll, then refrigerate
7. Make 5x5 bacon weave
8. Roll bacon weave over meat at a diagonal pattern
9. Bake at 400 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees
10. Let set for 10 minutes and then slice and enjoy!

The first step is to foil line a pan and make the internal bacon weave.  This weave will be a 3×3.  Line up three slices and cut 3 slices in half, then start weaving bacon in until you get a three by three.  Bake this weave in the oven @ 400 degrees until mostly done.

 The next step is to lay some saran wrap or foil on a board and using your hands form a rectangle.  At this point you can season the meat with some seasoning if you would like.  I forgot to get  picture of my seasoning, but I ended up seasoning with some bbq rub.  At this point your 3×3 weave should be ready. You don’t want it to be completely hard because this one needs to be flexible. Carefully move the bacon on top of the meat.  I used my flexible spatula, but anything will work.

Now, put your favorite cheese in the center, I used cheddar cheese.

At this point, you need to roll the meat up.  Try and have as clean a roll as possible.  That way your cheese doesn't squirt out the ends.  Mush your ends up tight.  At this point, it is easier to work with if it is a little cold.  So, I wrapped it in foil and put it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes or so.  Also, during the process I tried to compress it as much as possible with the foil.

Now, that you had practice on the first bacon weave, now it's time to do another.  I made a 5X5 because that's how much bacon I had.   Now, take the meat out of the refrigerator and place it approximately as shown.  Then wrap the weave over top and tuck it in on the other side.  A lot of the other wraps shown on the internet wrap horizontally.  This is not nearly as cool, wrapping on a diagonal makes a much nicer final product.  It also works better when you cut it.

 Here is what it looks like before the oven, looks tasty, doesn't it??!!  I used the same pan as before for the first weave hence why it is dirty (and probably the smokey kitchen).  I put it on a rack so the bottom cooks as well.

 And there you have it!  I baked it for around 60 minutes on 400 degrees.  But I mainly checked it until the internal temperature reached 165 degrees.  I served it with mashed potatoes and green beans.