How To Make a Fatty

No, I'm not talking about smoking pot. I'm talking barbecue here, and little known area of the barbeque genre. Since joining the BBQ-Brethren Message Board, I have been consumed with discussion of a thing called a "fatty." For a while it seemed like fatties were some inside joke among the brethren, or at least some sort of skill you just learn as you hone your barbecue skills. Well, I have learned what a fatty is, and I will tell you right now that I have never had anything like it.

A fatty is a barbecued log of breakfast sausage. Like Jimmy Dean or Owens. It's the simplest thing in the world, and it is delicious. Never in my mind would I have thought to put a log of Jimmy Dean on a grill and smoke it. Usually, these meats are reserved for slicing, frying, and serving for breakfast. But when you put one on the smoker, you are taking it to a new level. It's indescribable.

Step 1: Keeping the sausage intact, slice the plastic wrapper off with a pair of kitchen scissors or a very sharp knife.

Step 2: Put on smoker for about 3 hours at 225 degrees. Load it up with smoke.

Step 3: Slice into medallions and serve.

Optional steps: You have the option of doing just about anything you want to the fatties before you put them on the smoker. They will most all turn out very good. For the last one I cooked, I rolled one fatty in a rub of Good Sh*t seasoning. The other one I left plain. I've seen guys stuff a fatty with a smoked sausage or cheese or jalapeno strips. Anything goes. You can make your very own roulade of smoked sausage with little or no effort at all.