Bacon-Wrapped Peppered Sirloin

We have been enjoying some blissfully cool-for-August temperatures lately and this weather gift has inspired me to heat up the old Green Egg after a long hiatus. I am still adjusting back to post-vacation life, aka feeling a little lazy.  (I tell my son that vacation wouldn’t be special if we had it all the time. I so lie to that boy.) Anyway, I was looking for something pretty simple to ease my way back into real life.

I had some lovely jalapeno bacon in the freezer from a trip awhile back to Hirsch’s Specialty Meats. I wasn’t sure what I was making but I was pretty darn sure it would be wrapped with jalapeno bacon. I used this magnificent pork product to make one of my favorite dishes so far on the smoker and I think I may be addicted. I actually found out about it through Artizone, a grocery site that sources artisan food products. They have delivery in the Dallas and Chicago areas but also nationwide shipping for those of you in other parts of the U.S. They did not pay me to say that; I just love them.

So, I went to the store with the idea that I would be buying 2 lbs of something that just looked like it should be wrapped in awesome bacon. Since I am averse to most forms of chicken, I scoped out the pork and beef sections and laid my eyes on these sweet things…

I usually avoid anything that has been pre-seasoned but these just had a bunch of cracked pepper on the sides and I love pepper. In the basket they went. I won’t preach to you about portions… okay, I’m gonna preach here a bit. It’ll be quick. Two pounds of meat equals eight weeknight servings in my house. We load the rest of our plates with veggies. (Weekends are a different story. Oh, and vacations — just ask my scale.) So I cut my four sirloins in half. Then I proceeded to wrap them in the bacon and secure with half a toothpick each.

I threw them on my 350-degree grill on indirect heat, which I chose to avoid bacon fat flare-ups.

I grilled them over indirect heat for about four minutes on each side and then finished them up over direct heat (400 degrees or so) for about two minutes per side. They looked something like this when I was done…

Dinner was served, y’all — and I barely broke a sweat.

Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Breast with Cornbread Stuffing

Could there be more good things in that headline? How about if you knew that the bacon is jalapeno bacon? And the cornbread stuffing is loaded with Mexican spice? And the whole turkey breast is smoked for two hours? Well, hold onto your hats, sweeties, because I am about to share with you the best dish I have made yet on my Big Green Egg and possibly the best thing I have ever cooked.

When Al at Barbeques Galore was selling me the whole store, he showed me Weber’s Way to Grill cookbook. Specifically, he expertly flipped to page 169 and showed me this recipe. (Well, a version of this recipe.) I don’t know how many Weber cookbooks Al has sold this way but I’m bettin it’s a lot. Cause this is one pretty dish. And I am happy to report that it tastes even better than it looks.

You start by putting the smooth side of the turkey breast facing down on a cutting board and opening up the turkey breast by cutting down the center — but not all the way through. Then, you cover with plastic wrap and pound that sucker to about a 1-inch thickness.

This is a 5 lb turkey breast. I was looking for a 2-3 lb breast, but this was all I could find.                                                                    It worked out since everyone ate about twice as much as usual.

Then you spread your cornbread stuffing all over the middle, leaving a border around the edges. I cooked up and crumbled some trusty Jiffy cornbread.

Season it with a bevy of Mexican spices and throw in some chicken broth to moisten it up a bit.

Roll the breast lengthwise to create a cylinder.

Then arrange your bacon slices in tightly placed parallel strips, overlapping the ends of 2 slices to make each stripe. Place the rolled turkey breast in the middle of the center of the bacon.

I laid my butcher twine down before I started overlapping the bacon on top to make it easier to tie the breast up at the end.

Crisscross the bacon around the turkey. Secure with butcher’s twine.

I heard about Hirsch’s jalapeno bacon through Artizone and, let me tell you, it is some good stuff. It spiced up the turkey quite nicely.

Place over a disposable foil pan to catch the bacon grease; cook over indirect high heat until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. (For my 5 lb. breast, I cooked it at 425 degrees for just over 2 hours.) Use apple wood chips for a more pronounced smoky flavor.

Flip about halfway through and tent with foil if your bacon starts getting too crispy.

Remove the twine and cut into 1-inch slices.

I swear to you this dish is worth any effort. It looks gorgeous and tastes great. I’m not a big turkey fan and I had seconds and then ate on the leftovers for awhile. Okay, enough sellin you on how great it is… here is the ingredient list:

Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Breast with Cornbread Stuffing

Ingredients

Stuffing

3 cups crumbled cornbread

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

2 tsps each granulated garlic, onion powder, chili powder, and cumin

1 tsp each salt, ground pepper, and paprika

Meat

1.5 lbs bacon (preferably jalapeno or other spicy bacon)

5 lb turkey breast