I don't know if it's art, but I know what I like

Wow, once again it's been a ridiculously long time since my last post. I'll spare you my feelings on all the political crap that's occurred since then - and yikes, there was a lot of it - and move straight into the topic of this evening's post: food! Specifically, a Super-Bowl-worthy, artery-clogging, spectacular orgy of pork fat.

For the past few days the Internet has been abuzz over a little something called the Bacon Explosion. It's kind of a catchy name, but I'm not sure it does justice to a dish that is so glorious in its excess. As near as anyone can tell, a couple of hardcore barbecue aficionados in Kansas City came up with this particular recipe, although in and of itself there's nothing all that original about it. Anyway, I saw a few pics online and decided to try my hand. Here's a little photo documentary of the process.

The raw materials are simple: about a kilo each of thick-cut bacon and mild Italian sausage. I got mine at the St. Lawrence Market.
Then I created a lattice of bacon strips, that will serve as a sort of casing for the porky goodness within. I added a good dose of Cajun spice rub.
The next step was to cook the remaining bacon. First I fried four strips in a non-stick pan to render out the fat. Then I cooked the rest in the microwave, finishing them off in the pan. The end result was some seriously crisp, flavourful and gorgeous bacon.
After re-seasoning the sausage meat with more creole spice, dried basil, cayenne pepper and ground roasted garlic, I spread it out on a silicone sheet and placed the bacon on top.
The silicone baking sheet was a real help in helping roll and form this into a loaf. I then brushed it with chipotle barbecue sauce before placing it on top of the "sheet" of woven bacon.
After a little bit of finagling I was able to get the bacon rolled around the sausage, and it got one more coat of BBQ sauce before going onto a roasting rack in a 225-degree oven.
It took about three hours to get the internal temperature of this behemoth up to the recommended 165 degrees (and I generally go a few degrees higher for safety's sake). The final result looked pretty good.
The final result was tasty and incredibly rich, as you might expect with all those spices and fat. A little goes a long way. I think I'll probably end up freezing some of it for a treat later on in the year.
The perfect Super Bowl treat: a slice or two of this bad boy in a kaiser bun with a slice of cheese and some good mustard. Yum.

Hey, the Food Network it ain't, but it was a fun way to kill a little time on a lazy afternoon.