Jalepeno Help

[dukhntr]

I bought about a half dozen Jalepenos today, some cream cheese, and regular shredded cheese(some "Mexican" blend), and a pack of bacon. I read some threads about these but wanted some ideas. I plan on firing up the smoker tomorrow. I just saw where someone cut the peppers in half and stuffed and wrapped halfs. I was wondering is that the best method?? I also bought a can of chicken(yuck, but easier then cooking a breast to shred up) to throw in if necessary.

Can I use regular shredded cheese or willl it melt to much?? Should I cut them completey in half and stuff the halves and wrap them, or should I split them, clean them, and stuff them?? Should I use the chicken or not???

I have given my ingredients I have, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I plan on cooking 2 fatty's and a rack of spare ribs also, was going to throw these on the end away from the fire.

You may see a post in the Pork section about the fatty's all these (except the ribs) will be my first.

 

[crewdawg52]

The great thing about ABT's is that you can do anything you want to them and they will more than likely turn out very tasty.

There are about 1000 ways to do them, but the way the little mrs , myself, and friends like them are so:

cut stem off, cut in half length wise, remove seeds and white membrane (thats the heat) fill halfs with cream cheese mixture ( I got the recipe from SMF on of the threads. cant remember where, but its good)

8 oz room temp cream cheese ( I like the chive & garlic)
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 tbs dry onion
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp honey
1 tbs of your favorite bbq rub

wrap cheese filled halves with strip of bacon (on the small peppers, I cut them in half and "pull" them to fit), secure with tooth pick and smoke to golden brown

You can do anything or add anything you want. Good luck and hope this helps.

 

[dukhntr]

It does!! Thnks boku!! I didn't think to mix the shredded cheese with the cream cheese. Thnks a bunch man. Mucho appreciated.

 

[brennan]

Depending on the type of cheese you have, it may be oily, that means as the cheese melts, it will push everything out of the ABT. Check the ingredients in your cheese, and if there's a lot of oil in it, I'd opt out of using the shredded cheese until you find some higher quality cheese.

 

[zapper]

crewdawg has it just about right for the basic ABT or what I would call the basic formula. Just about any addition is going to make it better or at least a little different. ABTs by nature are very forgiving little snacks because they are not held to a higher strick standard for uniformity, just tasty little snacks.

Splitting the pepper completly in half after cutting off the stem end is easier to do than either decapitating at the stem and hollowing out or slitting the side and scraping out with the stem intact. There are some differences in presentation and possible cheese retention and cheese to smoke contact, but it all boils down to personal perfrence or cullanary skills. (Good thing spelling don't count)

My take on the cream cheese is that it helps keep the real cheese from running while cooking, it is also a little "Lighter" so to speak and adds to the texture differences (NO! I am not a funny boy! I only mentioned texture because the cream cheese does tend to cook up differently!)



I bet an ABT would be a great deep fried snack!


The bacon wrap: Whatever you have or like will work, pork or beef, apple, maple, hickory, thick or thin (Oooh, what about Canadian? ummmmm). At any rate I too try to go with half of a strip of bacon around a half pepper that has been filled to a slight mound of cheese filling. At this point as I have mentioned somewhere before, I like to chill the pepper stuffed with cheese for awhile before I try to wrap them with the bacon, it just seems that after mixing the cheese and stuffing the peppers the cheese is really soft at this point. Another thing that I have noticed is that the bacon is a little stretchier (is that a word?) as it warms up a bit. I don't go for the ultra high tension wrap, just stretch the bacon enough to cling to the shape of the pepper and maybe give you that last little bit of length that you need. I do try to seal the cheese in with the bacon like stretching plastic wrap over a bowl, that is I am more concerned about covering the cheese than the pepper. Usually as it cooks the bacon will shrink a bit and allow some of the smoke to kiss the cheese in a place or two.




I have been wanting to make a batch for almost a week and have not had the time that I needed, going for a big batch this time, maybe 40 units, depending.

 

[peculiarmike]

Your ingredients are fine. No, the cheese won't melt and run out. You can put about anything you like in an ABT.
I cut the tops off and use a corer made for ABT's to remove the membranes and seeds.
I also use a "jerky shooter", available at WalMart, about $20, to fill the peppers. Use the large "jerky stick" tube.

 

[deejaydebi]

I like to cut mine in half too. I usually do about 30 at a time (I love em!). You can use almost anything to stuff them. My favorite is chopped or crumbled fattys, chopped mushrooms and cream cheese. I use them as the side veggie with the meat.

 

[dukhntr]

One more question bout these bad boys:

How long do they cook. Common sense tells me till the bacon is nice and cooked, but just lookin for a general idea of how long to cook them. Temp. is around 250 I cannot keeo that sucker at the 225 I need it, closer to 250 is what it likes.

 

[big-fokker]

Just bumping this thread back to the top for some fellow newbies looking for an ABT recipe

Thanks!!

B.F.

 

[navionjim]

Say Big Fokker, I used to fly F-27 and F-28, are you into aircraft? I'm asking because of your avatar, Fokker.....

 

[keywesmoke]

I smoke mine until they are wrinkled all the way to the bottom (top). Learned that here. If the flesh is still smooth, it's still hot (spicy).

 

[big-fokker]

Nope...not into aircraft. My handle "Fokker" was given to me by an old riding buddy. We were at Bike Week down in Daytona, had a little too much to drink and he started referring to me as "Big-F*cker"

So I cleaned it up a little and made it my handle!

 

[deejaydebi]

I like my peppers with just a little crunch left. Not quite chinese firm but almost. I like the taste beter than when they get soggy soft and wrinkley.

 

[twistertail]

As far as times and temps, when I have done them I just put them in with the other stuff I'm smoking so its around 225-250. Usually has taken about 1.5 to 2 hrs, I like the bacon to get a little crispy.

 

[big-fokker]

Here's a corer http://www.barbecue-store.com/jalapenocorer.htm and I think times and temps are addressed on page one of this thread. If not, then go here http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/Downloads.htm and there may be temp info in the time-temp download.