Now that spring is finally here, we are loving being able to get outside, when the weather permits, to use the smoker and make yummy things. This week, I give you – The Hog Log! Sausage stuffed with cheese and wrapped in a bacon weave, smothered in brown sugar, and smoked to delicious perfection. Easy, delicious, and satisfying!
To start, you will need to get your smoker started. These will need to be held at around 225° for 2-3 hours (until the interior temp reaches 160°).
Next, get the bacon out and make a bacon weave. If you’ve ever made a lattice top for a pie, you are good to go! It’s the same concept. Lay out strips of bacon across a cutting board and then “weave” more bacon tightly in and out of the first slices, going the opposite direction.
Now, it’s time for the sausage and cheese. Flatten out a pound of breakfast sausage, hot or mild per your preference, and lay it out over the bacon weave. Then, add your favorite shredded cheese. I had cheddar on hand, so that’s what I used.
Now roll it all up lengthwise, making sure to tuck the sausage around the cheese at the ends to keep that beautiful cheese inside!
Time for the rub! It doesn’t get much easier than brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Give it a stir and then rub/pat it on ALL over the exterior of that bacon! (You can’t add too much in my opinion). All that’s left now is to pop it in the prepped smoker, throw a meat probe in it, and go relax until it’s done!
Side note:
This is the meat probe we use for everything! I can highly recommend it. It has an app that goes along with it, so my husband can sit down inside with me to play a game of Catan: Seafarers, and never have to worry about going outside to check things unless his phone goes off telling him something is amiss. I’ve even used it in my oven on multiple occasions.
Serve this up with some green beans and maybe my Ultimate Mac n’ Cheese for a full meal that will leave anyone satiated and possibly ready for a nap! Enjoy!
The Hog Log (“Hawg Lawg”)
Ingredients
- 2 lbs thick cut bacon
- 1 lb sausage hot or mild
- 8 oz cheddar cheese shredded
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Make a bacon weave. Alternate pieces of bacon tightly through each other to make a lattice.
- Spread the sausage out flat over the bacon weave.
- Spread the cheese over the sausage.
- Tightly roll up the whole thing with the bacon weave covering the outside. Tuck the ends in to prevent cheese from escaping out during cooking.
- Mix the brown sugar, salt, and pepper together and then press into the exterior of the entire bacon weave. Skewer the roll a few times to "pin" it all together.
- Smoke between 215°-235° in a smoker until the internal temperature of the roll reaches 160°. Approximately 3 hrs.
- Let rest 5 minutes before serving and then DEVOUR this thing! It's delicious!
If you don’t have a smoker, could you cook it in the oven?
Yes, it just wouldn’t be exactly the same or have the slightly smoky taste to it 🙂 you could probably get away with a higher heat for a much shorter time period in the oven. I’d still put a meat probe in it though to know when it’s finished.
This looks delicious! I could think of some sides that would be good with this as well, thanks for sharing!
WoW!!! I have never heard of anything like this before! Absolutely trying this out! Thanks for sharing.
Can I use burger instead of sausage??
I would season the ground beef first, but I think it would still be good!
could you add veggies (broccoli, mushrooms, tomatoes etc) to this along with cheese? The better question might be- how will adding veggies change cooking time?
If you wanted to add veggies like broccoli to this, I’d probably chop them up pretty good and cook them until they are softened a bit before adding them. I’d do the same thing with onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes. The “softer” veggies like mushrooms and tomatoes might not need as much cooking as the “harder” veggies.
The diced veggies could be added in a layer on top of the meat with the cheese and then rolled up into the roll.
I’d cover the ends of the roll with meat (any veggies sticking out could burn), and then you should be able to just follow the same timing and meat temps! Let me know how it goes. I’d love to see a picture of the finished product!
where did you come up with this name. hig log. I made this for a contest and changed the name from bacon explosion to hog log about 7 years ago and I thought I had coined the name as I never heard it before amd I googled it too. ofcoarse I won and it was on the radio in Albuquerque