Prescription for a Happy Mouth

[kaasirpent]

Take:

• a number of large, green jalapeño peppers


• a quantity of cream cheese


• some grated cheddar and Monterrey jack


• half as many strips of bacon as you have jalapeño peppers, cut in half (the bacon strips, not the peppers)


• [optional] a sprinkle of Bad Byron's Butt Rub (or other, lesser rub)


• some toothpicks (2 per pepper)


• a cheap, disposable aluminum serving tray

Use:

• a smoker

Produce:

• The best damned jalapeño poppers ever

The Way of the Poppers:

Cut the stem end off the peppers, and carefully scoop out all the seeds and as much of the membrane as you can get, leaving only the "meat."

Turn the serving tray upside down and, with something sharp, poke holes (the same number as you have peppers) in the bottom, and widen them with your finger to be big enough to hold the peppers upright.

Mix the cheeses. Carefully fill each pepper with the cheese mixture, taking care to get as much of it in there as possible.

Wrap each pepper with a half strip of bacon, using toothpicks straight through the pepper to secure the bacon in place. The toothpicks also serve as both a convenient way to handle them later and a method to keep the peppers from sliding through the holes in the aluminum pan.

Insert the peppers in the holes in the aluminum pan so they stand upright (cheese side up, of course).

Optionally, sprinkle the top of each pepper with some Butt Rub.

Put the whole pan into the smoker, which should be roughly 250 degrees F. Woods used: oak, cherry, hickory.

Smoke 'til bacon is crisp, cheese is bubbly, and the smell is enough to make you salivate.

Let cool long enough so cheese will not burn roof of mouth. Consume. Remember to remove toothpicks. :)

They're pretty mind-blowing by themselves, but they taste pretty damned good dipped in some Alabama White BBQ Sauce, too. I suppose Ranch dressing would do if you just had to have it, but...really, just do without. The ranch would just kill the taste.

I'll never eat another jalapeño popper that's been sawed in half, had some fake cheese-stuff heaped in, then battered and deep-fried. Feh. Those are dead to me, now.

I visited geek_72's place this weekend for some coding fun, and he BBQ'd the poppers, 8 lbs of pork, 10 lbs of chicken breasts, a couple of pounds of chicken legs, fixed chocolate zucchini cake/bread, "baked" beans (smoked. in. the. smoker.), freezer slaw, some loaded baked potato salad, brined cucumbers and onions with sour cream sauce, homemade BBQ sauce, and I think there might have been something else. I'm stuffed to the gills, as were Zach (of -fest fame) and geek_72 himself. And I brought home about 1/3 of what was left. *urp*

You wish you'd been there. You do. Trust me.

The recipe above courtesy of geek_72, and he said he sorta kinda got it from Guy Fieri on The Food Network on the show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," and the original recipe can be found over at Food Network.

geek_72's were probably better, however, but I'm certainly not going to Paola, Kansas, to find out. :)

Comments

[slymongoose.livejournal.com]

You can also do these up in an oven.
I was at a party where they were baked and served.
OMG!
We all were in the kitchen, salivating, maddened by the heavenly smell.
They vanished in a frighteningly short time.

So, what are you doing up at this hour, anyway?
My excuse is that I couldn't sleep. Still wound up from gaming night.

[kaasirpent]

My excuse was that I had driven back from geek_72's place and had just gotten unpacked and checked my email and such. And was waiting on the Tums to kick in. ;)

[geek-72.livejournal.com]

With the amount of food I cooked in the smoker yesterday I decided I need to add a smaller cooking shelf in the top of my smoker to accommodate the poppers or baked beans a little better. There was just barely enough room in the smoker for the beans, poppers, pork, and chicken. I might actually make an official "popper tray" for the smoker.

[kaasirpent]

I have a referral coming from my doctor for a nutritionist. I will make sure to inform her that I WILL be eating these and that's final. :)

[dorsai.livejournal.com]

Dang, that sounds really good. I might actually have to try this.

[kaasirpent]

Took ya long enough. :)

[dorsai.livejournal.com]

Better late than never!

I'll post a review here when I can. :)

[goldispikes.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely trying the poppers, thanks!

We had smoky goodness this weekend too. There was smoked chicken and pork, but let me sum up the importance of the occassion: HOMEMADE BACON.