Bacon Explosion

Credit: Megan Day/BBQ Addicts

If there was ever a day to whip up something called a "Bacon Explosion," I'm guessing it's Super Bowl Sunday. And since my heart has been pumping blood a little too efficiently lately, I felt I owed it to America to test drive this four-pound log of bacon and spiced Italian sausage wrapped in bacon-woven-bacon in preparation for the big day.

While it is entirely possible to craft your own Bacon Explosion at home, I'm not much of a chef (and I don't currently own a bacon loom), so the folks over at BBQ Addicts (the brains behind the "Explosion") sent over a pre-assembled, fully-cooked, heat-and-eat Bacon Explosion for me to sample. It arrived packed in dry ice and bubble wrap, ready to defrost and go.
Bacon Explosion

Credit: Megan Day/BBQ Addicts

The BBQ Addicts highly recommend firing up the Explosion in a smoker (at 225° F for about two and a half hours), but since my parents raised me to not smoke, I had to resort to an old-fashioned oven. So you may want to take this review with a grain of salt -- or 12,000 milligrams of sodium.

I baked the football-sized feast on a rack inside a roasting pan so that the river of grease it produced had somewhere to flow. As it cooked, the smell of smoke permeated my apartment -- it was like I was watching "Jeopardy" inside a barbecue pit.
Bacon Explosion

Credit: Megan Day/BBQ Addicts

The Bacon Explosion cooked at 375° F for about an hour and a half -- that's about 30 hours in "OMG, waiting to eat a Bacon Explosion!" years -- long enough for the internal temperature to reach the requisite 165° F. When I removed the pan from the oven, the drippings were spitting and sizzling, performing a greasy little celebration of fat.

The outside layer of bacon had crisped up and caramelized like a breakfast burnt-end, and as I sliced through the layers, the scent of sausage -- heavy with garlic and fennel -- wafted up to my nose. I'm pretty sure I keeled over, died, and then came back to a bacon-blessed life all in the course of thirty seconds.
Bacon Explosion

Credit: Megan Day/BBQ Addicts

My slice of the Bacon Explosion -- which, when served, looks like a pinwheel of pork -- was predictably delicious, and perhaps even more importantly, deliciously predictable. There's nothing fancy here -- just quality Italian sausage wearing a coat of quality bacon, in all its salty, sinful glory. It tastes exactly as one might expect: like a bacon-sausage pizza without all that annoying cheese and tomato sauce mucking up the meat's purity.

All in all, the Bacon Explosion is more of a party trick than a practical snack. It's good because of its gratuitousness. Die-hard meat-lovers don't care about gourmet taste -- they simply care about the celebrated gluttony of bacon wrapped in sausage wrapped in bacon-woven-bacon.

Just beware: Even a half of a slice resulted in fingers so bloated, I could barely type a review. Now I'm off to run four miles while eating fresh flaxseed chased with Lipitor.

What kind of drink do you serve with a Bacon Explosion? How about a Michelada? Follow our simple instructions to make this quirky Mexican beer.

Looking for a healthy alternative to serve your party guests? That's Fit has healthy dip recipes and best food bets for your Super Bowl fiesta.

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