ABTs

[bwsmith_2000]

Smokers,
I need some expertise on our wonderful jalapenos. Last Sunday, I smoked a couple of Boston Butts and routinely threw on a fatty and two dozen ABTs. Everything turned out wonderful except the peppers. I can normally eat them with great enjoyment. However, these things were mean hot. Are there different types of jalapenos? I bought these at a large farmer's market here in Atlanta and man were they hot. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Fl. Bill

 

[larry maddock]

yo dude,
there are several variations of jalapenos.
many try to retain full flavor while
trying the reduce the Heat.

there is also serrano peppers that resemble
jalapenos.
they are just a tiny bit smaller.
they are the next step up the heat scale---
so they are hotter.

 

[willkat98]

We have come across near habenero style heat in some japs. Especially in ABT's, if the guy coring them is drunk and leaving seeds in them (not kidding, two of us sat back and watched a bad cleaning job, followed by 3 hours later of burning throats)

It was at one of those 3 day Q fest thingy's.

Guy was coring away, and not paying attention.

I asked him "Hey, whats that thing by your eye?"

He said "What thing?"

I said "Right here" and I wiped the corner of my eye, then looked at his eye

He put the pepper down (he was coring for half hour) and said "Where? Right here?" and started rubbing the corner of his eye.

When your drunk, its funny watching stupid people. He swore at me for 3 hours.

 

[Dutch]

Chi-Bill, now that was just plain funny. When I was a Scoutmaster, I'd have Scouts help me with kitchen chores and I would always take along some jalapenos peppers and I'd get them to core and dice them up for salsas and stuff. I'd always remind them not to pick at their noses and sure enough they would be running around sniffling like they had suddenly came down with a head cold :mrgreen:

Fl. Bill sometimes the amount of fertilizer the jalapenos receive and the amount of water that they DON'T receive will sometimes affect the amount of heat they generate.

 

[soflaquer]

Funny you should bring that up, Bill. We had some out of town guests a few months ago, so along with some bodacious barbeque.........I did about 2 dozen ABT's that everyone can't get enough of. Well, sure enough, the same thing happened to me! Our guests had heard so much about them, they tore into them only to find out they were about an 8 on the Scoville Scale!!! Man..........those bad boys were HOT! We got them from the same market we always do - cored them perfectly (and Soberly, I might add) but WOW, what a difference in heat. Now I personally like spicy hot, but they were inedible to all of our guests and my Wife. After all that time and attention I had spent on them, I was highly disappointed.

A friend of mine said it had to do with the time of the season. Apparently, the later in the season you buy them, the hotter they get. Whether or not this is true, I don't know.

Any of our Southwest members have any suggestions or comments on choosing Japs for ABT's? We'd love to hear from you!


Jeff

 

[dacdots]

Hey Bill,for the last couple of years Ive been raising TAM JALAPENOS.They have very good flavor and hardly any heat at all.They look and taste the same with no heat.Ive never found them for sale anywhere so I ordered seeds from Henry Fields seed book and grew them myself.I like a little heat so I spice up whatever Im stuffing them with.Good luck,David

 

[soflaquer]

David,

I grew some Tam Jap's in my garden last season as well. The ones that I produced were too small in size to make good ATB's. How were your's?

Jeff

 

[larry maddock]

yo boss jeff #2,

you guys have got me stumped.
whats a ABTS??

 

[soflaquer]

LOL! Sorry Larry! :lol:

ABT's stand for Atomic Buffalo Turds. Basically, they are stuffed Jalapeno Peppers, that are wrapped or covered in Bacon and put in the smoker for approximately 3 hours. There are several different types of stuffing and ways to set them in the Smoker.

If you go to the "Topics" section under vegatables, you will find a few posts and pictures on them.

They are INCREDIBLE!!!

Jeff

 

[bwsmith_2000]

You guys must be onto something. I thought I was turning total whimp. I've always liked things a little spicey but these things must have been crossed with Scotch Bonnets or something. Ineteresting that you brought up the rain/temp/time of day considerations. Now that you mention it, I have heard something about those too. I think I might try some of the Tam seeds or plants if I can find them. Like you Jeff, I also had a crowd over for the big event. The ABTs were beautiful but we couldn't eat them. It was almost embarrasing. Thankfully, fatties and BBQ were good so everything turned out fine. I sure hated throwing out those ABTs. I think they even ate a hole in my garbage can. Anyway, thanks to all for the benefit of your thoughts.

 

[willkat98]

I combine the best of all worlds for ABT's

Completely core some japs, crumble up some pre smoked fatty (sage is good, don't care for "hot" in this recipe) then shove cheese of choice in there, wrap in bacon.

Now that, is one smoky good ABT when done.

And as not to inflate my post count, my story of the eye rubbing was at my 5th or 6th weekend Q/Drink fest. At the second one, one guys job was to core 6 dozen japs.

After a day of drinking and coring, he said "I gotta go take a whiz"

For 4 hours we heard nothing but moaning about burning genitals.

 

[dacdots]

SoFla,I have had good luck with the TAMs,they get just as big as a regular Jalapeno.Like I said before,you can find seeds at HenryFields.com,They are very easy to grow as are most peppers,just make sure they have a good water supply and you wont have any problems growing them.

 

[soflaquer]

Huh, the Tam's I grew last Spring were tiny and slender, much like a Serrano. Those I did not grow from seed, the others I did.

Thanks for the info!

Jeff

 

[Dutch]

Dac, thanks for the point to Henry Fields, guess I'll have to give them a try. I noticed that they also carry a jalapeno with NO heat at all.

 

[tacfolder]

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

I was a paramedic.

I wear gloves for almost everything!

Nevertheless, I have also had a few bad moments (hence, the gloves).

 

[bwsmith_2000]

Tacfolder,
I learned a good lesson from my bout with the super Japs. As I mentioned in earlier notes, I have always enjoyed spicey foods and never had a problem with the jap peppers. But I guess I should have had a clue before eating them. Because as I was coring and filling them, I noticed my hands sort of stinging ... especially between my fingers and under my ring. That has never happened before. I just didn't think jalapenos were hot enough to warrant gloves. Now I know. But I still plan to research the TAMs. I like spicey but man those things were too much. Gloves are our friends right?

 

[brianj517]

I, too, am something of a "chili-head." I grow my own jalepenos, habaneros and a variety of other peppers for various recipes.

Several years ago,when I was a little more naieve, I learned a very valuable lesson about gloves...

I chopping several different hot peppers for a batch of five-alarm-chili and I wasn't wearing gloves. Everything turned out fine, no skin reaction, and of course I knew enough not to rub my nose, eyes or use the restroom without washing my hands very thouroughly.

The chili turned out great. Everyone enjoyed the hot chili and chased it with many cold beers. No problem.

Now, as Paul Harvey says, you're going to hear...the rest of the story...

Fast forward several hours and many hand-washings later...

The guests are gone, the kithchen is clean, and the left-overs are packed away in the fridge. I'm tired, a little tipsy, and ready to call it a day. As I'm preparing for bed, I follow my usual routine...brush my teeth, take a final whiz and so on. Once again I wash my hands to prepare for the final step which is to remove my contact lenses... :shock:

There was enough pepper oil left on my skin, even after repeated washings, that it felt like somebody poured Napalm directly into my eyes!

But, that's not all... when my vision finally returned... I double rinsed my lenses and packed them away in solution...and went to bed.

The next morning I awoke at 6:30 and stumbled into the bathroom to get ready for work, and guess what happened next...

Yep, you got it... in my groggy early morning haze, my dumb ass put the same friggin lenses right back into my eyes... :shock:

Needless to say, there is now an industrial size box of rubber surgeons gloves in my kitchen at all times...

...Oh yeah, and I've since switched to disposable lenses...just in case...

Cheers,
Brian

 

[bwsmith_2000]

Brian,
Great story! I know that it had to be painful and a valuable lesson can be learned by all of us. But, I can't help laughing a little .... I guess it's the sadistic tendency in me. I've noticed also that when a people situation seems comical to us it's because it's happening to someone else. Seriously, hope all is well with the eyes now. That sounds like something I would do. And by the way, I have placed my order with the Henry Fields company (henryfields.com) for some Tam seeds.

 

[brianj517]

Hey Bill,

Yes, my eyes are just fine now. That story actually took place eight or nine years ago. I just figured I'd chime in to give the group a good laugh... :lol: I must have a bit of sadist in me, too. If I had been watching it happen instead of living it, I just know I'd have laughed my @$$ off too!

I still love fiery foods and I still grow my own peppers of many different varieties and heat levels. I'm just a little more careful now. :oops:

Cheers,
Brian

 

[dacdots]

After working with hot peppers,always SCRUB your hands before playing with the babies mommy.........enough said!