Armadillo Eggs - 101
 

For the other beginners, like me. See the Armadillo Eggs thread in the roadmap for basics - but given that my first time to make these beasts is this week, I thought I'd share what I came across.

note - the cook is tomorrow starting at 6am. Tonnight was food prep.

Bought jimmy dean sausage - local HEB was running a special, 2 for $5. Bought four chubs - two low fat, two HOT. Had colby jack cheese for two of them, and pepper jack for two others. The two w/Colby jack got bell peppers (reb, green and yellow), and the two with pepper jack got jalapenos (no seeds).

During prep, the first thing I noticed is that the sausage stuck to EVERYTHING. The first chub I prepped on aluminum foil. Once pressed out flat and "dressed", it was impossible to pull it off of the foil in one piece. I ended up pulling up all the pieces, and shaping the Egg back into chub form with both hands. So, tin foil by itself is right out. The second chub was prepped on a wooden cutting board, with similar (but slightly better) results. The last two, I used a cookie sheet with a little bit of olive oil, and that worked FAR better for removal.

The second major piece was re-shaping. Obviously, the sausge must be pressed flat (see "prepped egg" post from RoadMap-linked thread) for the ingredients to be added. Pressing the entire chub flat, and then re-forming around the dressings is how I built the first two. However, for the last two, I realized that I could divide the original chub in half, and press each piece flat by itself. Then, put the dressings on one half, and lay the other half back on top. With a little bit of massaging, the two pieces form back into a chub shape, and far easier (to me) than reforming the entire piece with all that stuff inside it.

Just figured that others might benefit from this info.

Might consider the following attachment.

capn.

i find that having the sausage very cold stops it from sticking to the cutting board.

When i do the eggs. I pull apart the amount of meat i want for one egg and form a meatball in my hands and slap the meatball to the table, which flattens it out somewhat. Then press down the center a bit to make it concave. I spoon in the filling and then cup my hands around the meat and lift it *up and in* as i work my hands underneath. Once its all unstuck from the table and i got the whole slab in my hands i just reform it into an egg shape. Seems to work for me and is pretty quick.

Good post, mods.. please add to roadmap...

For eggs, I take a shole fatties and split it down the middle, cutting about 3/4th of the way thorugh it to the bottom. This let's me open it lie a sub sandwich roll. then using my thumbs I indent the sides outward, making a hollowed out sub roll. add ingredients, pull two side together and squeeze together. I then do a bit of mouling with the hands, very minimal, and the dress the top wit what's inside so I can ID it. did 8 yesterday and have never had one leak or split open. as ofr sticking...becuse I work with them cold, and don;t spread them out, my sticky surface is relatively minimal. Good eats!!!! Scott

I did something this morning the worked the best for me for not sticking... I used the white butcher paper the sausage came in (I got some freshly made)... worked really great! I have a weird set of fatties going... pics later.

Cmc - I didn't have any of that butcher paper, which is what I wanted to use. I think that's the winner idea. Wax paper might have worked, too. Things to get next time I head to the HEB :).

I made six the other day and used wax paper. worked fine for me.

Farkers, try placing the sausage on a good quality type plastic wrap. Do what ever as far as adding cheeze,peppers ect. Then when you go to reshape sausage use plastic wrap. Ive used it in using bulk sausage making into a log/roll. I learned at Paul Kirks class you can even use the plastic wrapped meat on the pit for up to one hour if the temp is 250 F. or less. Then you can remove plastic wrap, place meat on rack. Kinda like making a meat loaf. Please dont subject the meat to temps above 250 otherwise you will have the mass from heck. This should elimanate any sticking problems during prep.
Just a thought here
Bull

Teaching my son how to do it, so it can be his mess to clean up. Wax paper works for me when he is not around

I've never heard this discussed - what's the best way to open the fattie with misshaping it?

Done.

TIM

I did armadillo eggs benedict this morning... pics coming.

Great success!

The first pic came out a bit blurry, but it still looks ok:

http://buckymcoinkumsbbq.typepad.com/img/armeggs1.jpg
The next is the full blown dish, with a poached egg broken over the top...
http://buckymcoinkumsbbq.typepad.com...megssfinal.jpg

Looks darn good to me.