The tour started with some history of the company including some of the actual equpment that Sam used in the earlier days of the company.  Followed by a visit to the mash room and an education about how beer is made (I totally knew all the answers… ).  Then off to the aging tanks.  Shown above is the tour guide resting his hand on the tank they age the Palo Santo Marron.  The other tank to the left is an oak where I believe they age the 120 Minute IPA.  I found out too that this year the 120 has a slightly different recipe than last years.  Previously they didn’t age in oak as they do now too.

I’ve been a big fan of Dogfish for quite some time (such as my Chicory Stout and Chocolate Bread Pairing seen here).  They have an Ale House in Maryland right near where I travel often for work – and I visit frequently… twice this week in fact!  (though I found out on my tour that the alehouses aren’t actually owned by Dogfish but the name is licenesed out… whatever – it’s still really really really really good!)

If you haven’t tried any of the Dogfish Brews for yourself – I suggest you go out and get yourself a 4 or 6 pack, or one of their speciality bottles tonight.

Oh, and if you really want a treat – try this: Get a 4 pack of the 120.  Chill 2 of them and enjoy now.  Put the other two in the back of a relatively cool closet (like if your closet is air conditioned with your house) or down in your basement.  Wait one year (or more!) before enjoying.  Trust me – I did that with some last year and the two I drank this spring were out of this world.  It was really amazing the difference that it made!!!!  And haven’t you always wanted to be able to say “I’ve been saving this bottle for a very special occasion” and actually mean it!!?!?!?!

I mean… really…. it’s ME we’re talking about here…

Since working on “Project Bob Evans”, let’s just say I have a new found appreciation for Pancakes.  And guess what – yesterday was NATIONAL PANCAKE DAY!

In celebration of pancake day, I decided to make my own pancakes and invite over the parents.  Add bananas and some little sausage patties… good eats.

And then for dessert – chop up some chocolate bars and mix in with the batter and bananas… yum.

One of my current favorite beers is Dogfish Head Chicory Stout.  It’s has a great smooth flavor that goes well as a dessert beer without being a dessert per say.

Wegmans sells occasionally Chocolate Bread – a crusty loaf with chocolate peices all throughout.  Slice up some of that and pair it with this beer for good times.  Pop the slice of bread in the toaster for a very short time and let the chocolate get a little bit melty.  Little bit of butter or some whipped cream cheese… Decadant.

Last sunday for the SuperBowl, I decided to make The Bacon Explosion.  That’s right. Staring coronary artery disease right in the eye and laughing.  As promised, I’ve documented all the steps involved in preparing the Pork Heart Attack and I’ve even added some of my own special tips and tricks and additions to the recipe prepared by BBQ Addicts.

I first heard about the Bacon Explosion when tweated by Fox29 that they were going to be featuring it during the Wing Bowl.  I instantly emailed it to all my friends who challenged, nay begged me to make it for my SuperBowl party.  Having already committed to makeing a great Gumbo (I’ll post on that one too, later) for said occasion I thought – Should I?  Could I?

HOW COULD I NOT?!?!?!?!?!?

I do suggest you try this at home… but take no responsibility for subsequent bacon addictions and years of treatments for heart problems…

Step 1) Purchase 2 lb think cut slab bacon and 2 lb Italian Sausage from Denny @ The Butcher Bloc.  Mad props for the great selection!
I bought the sausage cased and uncased it myself, but I bet if you ask him nicely Denny would be glad to provide you with uncased sausage too.  Optionally you could go to your local grocery store or other butcher as well – but you should really just go to the best.

Step 2) Purchase Defibrillator.  Just in case.  Also make sure your gym membership is paid up.

Step 3) Using 10-12 slices of bacon, create a bacon weave.  I used a 6×6 weave because of how this bacon was sliced, to make a better size mat which is then used as the outside weave.    It’s best to make the weave snuggly tight.  It helps to hold together the overall pork monster – but don’t get too concerned about this, I’ve got another trick that helps hold it all together… more on that later.
Add some of your favorite seasoning to the weave.  I used a homemade seasoning, but feel free to use your favorite store bought or a blend specially prepared by your favorite butcher.

Step 4) Fry up the remaining bacon to your preferred doneness.  When cooked, use a knife to chip bacon into pieces a little bit bigger than the bacon bits you put on your salad (cause of course you put bacon on your salad… right?)  Set this aside until later.

Step 5) Spread out all two pounds of the loose sausage on top of the bacon weave.  Be sure to keep the sausage relatively even all across, and have it spread almost all the way out to the edges of the bacon weave.  Add a bit more seasoning if you like.

Step 6) This is the first place where I’ve differed a little bit from the original Bacon Explosion on BBQ Addict.  In addition to placing the bacon and BBQ sauce on top of the sausage, I’ve added a few slices of American Cheese and some shredded Cheddar Cheese.  I’d suggest if you are going to prepare with cheese or if I were to brave this again, skip the American and load up the cheddar.  I’ll explain later.

Step 7) Carefully roll the sausage over the bacon and cheese and BBQ sauce mixture.  Some is going to fall out – don’t cry about it.  Just pick it up and smash it back in place.  Be sure to make the roll as tight as possible to ensure even cooking and a better presentation later.

Step 8 ) THIS IS MY OWN SPECIAL TRICK as referred to in step 3.  When I saw this made on Good Day Philadelphia last week, I noticed that the sliced piece they had on the air seemed to be falling apart.  Taking a tip from my favorite television chef Alton Brown when he made pinwheel cookies for Christmas, I decided to help the structural integrity of the roll to chill it in the freezer for a half hour.  To accomplish this, take a peice of wax paper or parchment paper and wrap the sausage part of the Meat Attack, excluding the bacon weave.  Wrap tightly at both ends (but not so much that it starts seeping out the paper, that is not good eats…).  Stash in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.  That short amount of time won’t be enough to freeze it.  If you are preparing this ahead of time, you can alternately place in the fridge instead – but remember to place the bacon in the fridge too, don’t want that beautiful bacon going bad now, do we?!?!?!?!?

Step 9) Remove the Chilled Carnivore’s Dream from the chill and unwrap.  Now carefully roll the bacon weave around the whole thing, and add some more of your favorite seasoning.

Step 10) Prepare some glazing BBQ sauce.  I thinned approximately 3 tablespoons of sauce with about 1 tablespoon of beer – Dogfish Head Chicory Stout in this case.  One of my all time favorites.  And yes, that leaves you with another 11 some oz. of beer for which you’ll need to find some other purpose.

Now to consider the cooking option.  To Grill or Not To Grill.  That’s not really a question – Grill!!!!

Ok, last Sunday I was busy and didn’t have time to properly tend to the grill so I used the oven.  SORRY!  I’M SORRY!

So now, to the cooking aparatus of choice.  You have pre-heated your oven / grill haven’t you?  (for the oven, I used 350°).

BBQ Addicts suggested oven cooking sacreledge time as 1 hour at 375.  I happened to cook mine for the grill suggested time of 2+ hours, and it also came out just fine – little bit crispier perhaps but very very good none the less.  IF YOU ARE USING THE OVEN – you must must must place the mound on some grate like aparatus to keep it out of the grease that will exude, and on a cooking container with some kind of lip to prevent the grease from dripping down and making a mess or even fire hazard out of your oven.

In the last 15-30 minutes of cooking, add the BBQ glaze.

After cooking, let the beauty cool for at least 20 minutes.  This will give the meat a chance to come back together and be more stable for when you slice into it.  I suggest using an electric knife to get a nice clean slice.  But lets face it, if you’re brave enough to eat this monster, you would be just as happy to rip the meat and eat it as is.  All up to you.

My Lessons Learned and Suggestions for You Brave Souls wanting to try this at home:

• Chilling to keep the meat roll together is vital to keeping the sliced rolls together after cooking.  Makes it a bit easier to handle getting the bacon weave in place too.
• Don’t stuff with American Cheese.  It’s too oozy.  By the end of the cooking, it had all dripped out the ends of the roll and become burnt bacon grease fried cheese on the cooking tray underneath.  I admit – I took a bite of this, it tasted like burn cheese in bacon grease.  If you’re adding cheese, cheddar worked well enough.  Anything that is a bit firmer of a cheese that doesn’t run too much would be good here.  Especially something with some spice.
• I glazed too early and it made for a very dark layer of burnt-ish sauce.  It wasn’t bad, but I’d do the glaze a bit later to make it more flavorful (15-30 minutes as suggested above).

I’ll be posting a full article about it and the making of including pictures later this week.

Bacon Explosion

http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/
This is quite possibly the most amazing feat of bacon culinary skill I have ever seen. Note to self, buy a defibrulator and make this on Sunday for Super Bowl party.

These look amazing…

via Slashfood.com

Legal Vice Brownies

1/2 lb bacon
8 oz butter
10 oz baking chocolate*
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 firmly packed brown sugar
5 large eggs
Freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp smoked salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Bourbon**

Yum.