Why do things that sound like they should be disgusting sound so good?

[Photo:  Don Ipock for The New York Times]

According to this article from The New York Times, "well over 16,000 web sites have linked to the [Bacon Explosion] recipe," yet I hadn't heard about this ode to the pig until today.  This smoked combination of woven pieces of bacon wrapped around Italian sausage was the brain-child of two guys in Kansas who were challenged to come up with something amazing to do with bacon and a barbecue.

Now part of my brain is saying, "Oh man, that looks like an absolutely disgusting mess of fat and grease."  Yet, most of my brain is saying, "Oh man, that looks like heaven on a plate.  Baaaaaaacon.  Drool."

If I had a backyard to try this, I would actually be tempted to barbecue this up.  The recipe from The New York Times:

Time: About 3 hours

2 pounds thick-cut sliced bacon
1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage, casings removed
3 tablespoons barbecue rub
3/4 cup barbecue sauce.

1. Using 10 slices of bacon, weave a square lattice like that on top of a pie: first, place 5 bacon slices side by side on a large sheet of aluminum foil, parallel to one another, sides touching. Place another strip of bacon on one end, perpendicular to the other strips. Fold first, third and fifth bacon strips back over this new strip, then place another strip next to it, parallel to it. Unfold first, third and fifth strips; fold back second and fourth strips. Repeat with remaining bacon until all 10 strips are tightly woven.

2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees or light a fire in an outdoor smoker. Place remaining bacon in a frying pan and cook until crisp. As it cooks, sprinkle bacon weave with 1 tablespoon barbecue rub. Evenly spread sausage on top of bacon lattice, pressing to outer edges.

3. Crumble fried bacon into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle on top of sausage. Drizzle with 1/2 cup barbecue sauce and sprinkle with another tablespoon barbecue rub.

4. Very carefully separate front edge of sausage layer from bacon weave and begin rolling sausage away from you. Bacon weave should stay where it was, flat. Press sausage roll to remove any air pockets and pinch together seams and ends.

5. Roll sausage toward you, this time with bacon weave, until it is completely wrapped. Turn it so seam faces down. Roll should be about 2 to 3 inches thick. Sprinkle with remaining barbecue rub.

6. Place roll on a baking sheet in oven or in smoker. Cook until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 1 hour for each inch of thickness. When done, glaze roll with more sauce. To serve, slice into 1/4-to- 1/2-inch rounds.

Yield: 10 or more servings.