Bacon Pigs

Last year I made some bacon turtles and it inspired me to try and make a bacon pig. I really wanted to make something oddly cute but very delicious.

Ingredients:

• Bacon
• Egg
• Ground Turkey (or some kind of ground meat)
• Sausage
• Bread Crumbs
• (any seasoning you would like)

Materials:

• Wax Paper
• Toothpicks
• Scissors
• Pan

I mixed in 1 egg with my ground meat, and then I add some bbq sauce, Franks hot sauce, and some garlic powder (but you can season it however you like). After I’ve seasoned my meat I sprinkle in bread crumbs until it’s moldable.

I used two sausages. For the legs I cut 4 pieces about ½” wide. For the noses I cut 2 pieces about 1/8” wide. There will be some extra sausage, but I just cooked the extras because it makes for a delicious snack.

I made the bodies of the pigs about the size

of a medium potato. For the head I made it about the size of a ping-pong ball.

Take some bacon and start wrapping your burgers and sausage feet. Try to cover as much as possible. When done place it on a pan.

After your pig body is wrapped, use your thumb to press a divot so that the head can rest in there.

First take the sausage slice you cut for the nose and use 2 toothpicks to put it in place. These toothpicks will also serve as the nostril holes when they are removed.

For ears, cut just over an inch off the tip of a bacon strip. Fold the bottom together and use your toothpick to attach it to the head. You want it to hold that shape so use as many toothpicks in or around it to hold that shape while it bakes.

I baked everything at 375°F for about 30 minutes. It’s more important that the internal temperature of the burger reaches 160°F. I overcooked mine a little bit. Luckily, it’s wrapped in bacon so the bacon fat kept the insides of the burger pretty moist.

I didn’t use toothpicks to secure the feet to the body, I just set the feet out and placed the body on top. I then used toothpicks to secure the head in place and removed as many toothpicks as I could from the head without hurting the ears. I had to keep a couple toothpicks to keep my ears in place. What I did was cut the toothpick as close as I could to the meat so that it’s not as noticeable. I would recommend leaving the toothpicks a little more noticeable for children or unsuspecting people. The last thing you want is someone hurting themselves on a toothpick.

For some extra flare I cut a channel out of a cucumber and filled it with Caesar dressing dip (it’s supposed to look like a mini trough). I also added some romaine lettuce to give it a splash of green.

I had originally intended to make a curly tail by wrapping a strip of bacon around a toothpick. The bacon tail burnt because I cooked it the same amount of time that I cooked the burger. If I were to do it again I would do a curly tail but take it out of the oven half way through.

All in all I think it turned out pretty well. But most importantly, it tasted amazing!

Leave your comments below. I'd love to hear your tips or ideas!