Pork-Splosion

It's an explosion of bacon and pork in your mouth.  And it's even better than it looks!

This is hands-down the best thing I've ever cooked or eaten.  Simply put, having now cooked this I feel like I can die a happy man.  There's really nothing left to accomplish in life.  And if that seems weird to you, the reason is that you haven't eaten a pork-splosion yet.

Yield: 14 servings

Ingredients

• 3 lbs thick-cut bacon, separated
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp Jack Daniel's whiskey
• 4 lbs ground pork (I used honey & maple flavored pork)
• 1.25 oz. dry rub
• 1 bottle sweet BBQ sauce
• Sweet is important because the caramelizing sugars are what gives it the shiny surface.

Directions

1. Chop up 1 lb of bacon and put into a small pot with the brown sugar, cayenne pepper, and Jack Daniel's.  Cook over medium-low heat until the bacon is tender cooked.  Remove from the heat.
2. On aluminum foil, use the remaining bacon to form a double-length bacon weave as shown in the picture.  Spread the dry rub over the bacon.  (Be generous, it's gonna be thick and you'll want that flavor)
3. Spread the ground pork over the bacon weave, keeping it about 1-inch from the edges.  Top with about 1/3 cup BBQ Sauce.
4. Spread the bacon from step #1 over the ground pork.  Roll up the sausage into a log, and then roll the bacon over it.  It's ok if it's not a perfect cylinder, just get it into a log.  Fold the bacon over the ends.
5. Line a baking stone with aluminum foil.  Transfer your pork log onto the baking stone, seam-side down.
6. Transfer to a BBQ and cook over low heat (225°F - 250°F) for about 6 hours (1.25 hours per inch of thickness), until a thermometer reads 160°F internal temperature.
7. With 60 and 30 minutes left in cooking time, brush BBQ sauce over the pork-splosion.
8. Slice and enjoy.

Adapted from BBQ Addicts recipe Bacon Explosion.