Smoked Jalapeno Poppers

[cjs]

This was fun - an old friend, Chef Dave Nelson posted a picture of Jalapeno poppers he made for the Superbowl and smoked them. They looked so good, just had to play with it also.

Had some Artichoke dip left, so used that for the chessey and had some of the small links in the freezer and Roy was more than willing to go pick up the Jalapenos and cheap bacon for wrapping.

Prepping the poppers -


Still had some dip left, so cut some thick potato rounds, scooped them out a little and stuffed with the dip and wrapped in bacon also.


This was after about 2 1/2 hours -


And, after 4 hours total -


Results?
I think I'll smoke them maybe 3 - 3 1/2 hours if I get the temp. regulated faster (I think they cooked a little too much before I got the temp right. It was so cold, it was hard to manipulate)

The potatoes did not get done, so I'll just throw 'em in the oven for a little while later.

Overall, they are very tasty - Roy liked them better than I - I can't eat much smoked flavor before it gets old to me. He gave them a 4 (out of 5 - best). I also think I'd like them better with the 'classic' cheese mixture for the filling - the artichoke was a little too 'dainty' (if you will) for them. Jack and cheddar would be much better.

But they are fun.

[esgunn]

Ok, are you going to share the recipe and the smoking method?

Steve will want to try these. We also are really learning about smoking and how much smoke we like. We like smoke but not a huge amount of it. That is what went wrong with the chicken wings. Just all smoke.

The chicken halves we used pecan wich was a nice mild smoke and only used 2 hours smoke for 5 hours cooking. Much better result.

Every weekend Steve has been wanting to smoke something!

[cjs]

I really like smoking with apple wood - it seems to be less harsh than most.

Erin, do you and Steve like oysters? Here's one I did with oysters, but didn't smoke them (I've just learned to do that ) You'll notice in the notes, I used Jalapenos halved, so it would work really well for smoking, I'm thinking.


* Exported from MasterCook *

JALAPENO POPPERS OYSTERS ROCKEFELLER

24 jalapeño peppers -- top cut off and seeded
12 oysters -- off the shell, chopped with liquid
1/2 cup cooked spinach -- well drained and chopped
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 teaspoon Pernod
salt -- pepper, and garlic powder to taste
12 slices bacon -- partially cooked and cut in half

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix the chopped oysters, spinach, green onion, bread crumbs, egg, Pernod and seasonings together. Stuff the peppers with the mixture. Top each pepper with bacon and insert toothpick through to hold in place.

Bake the peppers until they are soft, heated through and the bacon is crisp. Approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes then serve.

Note: I only had four jalapenos, so cut them in half lengthwise and filled that way. Also, I had some scraps of yellow bells, cut those in sqs. and rectangles and topped them with the filling - the other gal who was 'in attendance' didn't want jalapenos, but she ate all the bells! So, I think I'll do this again with a popper platter.

----
The ones I did, I split the peppers and seeded (most) and removed most of the membrane, put a nice layer of cheese in the bottom of the pepper (I'll use a combination of grated (small) jack and cheddar next time); then nestled one of the miniature sausage links into the cheese and wrapped it with a slice of bacon. I bought cheap bacon, so it would be nice and thin and useable.

Dave said he smoked his for 5 hours at 225°F - but I had trouble getting my temperature down to 225° because it was so cold, I over-compensated. Anyway, I smoked mine for 4 hours but I'll do 3 to 3 1/2 hours next time.

Really simple and easy.

Edited to add: Looking at the pictures again, they really did look perfect after 2 1/2 hours, so will probably go 2 1/2 to 3 horus nest.

[esgunn]

So, Yesterday we tried making these while Steve was smoking a pork shoulder. They were really good, but we decided they needed a few tweeks. We made them with slices of cheddar and jack cheese. The cheese melted and dripped away with the bacon fat. We really liked them at 3 hours, but the crispness of the bacon at 4 hours. But the pepper had gotten soft and lost a lot of it's heat by then. So I think the 3 hours is better. We only had smoke for 40 minutes and used pecan so it was just a nice light smoke.


The final product:


A kids version with yellow bell peppers. The kids loved them.


I know we will try them again. Maybe with cream cheese and maybe trying to leave the pepper whole and wrapped with bacon to hold the cheese in??

[cjs]

Cheddar & Jack are what I was going to use next time, also, Erin. Did you cube or grate the cheese? Maybe mixing grated with a little cream cheese would keep the cheese in the pepper 'boat'? Three hours, good to know that worked for you - I wish I had pulled mine at that time also.

The sure look good!!

[Harborwitch]

Found the chili grill!!! Of course by now I've used most of the peppers and the cheese for other things.

Soon!

[DFen911]

Ok wanted to weigh in. I did Monterey Jack cheese and I sliced the sausages in 1/2 lengthwise. I also cut my bacon in half lengthwise and use only 1/2 a slice per popper. They were cooked for about 3.5 hours.

OMG these were soo good!! Derek ran some across the street to our neighbor's who promptly called to say how delish they were. This is a winning combo and will end up be on my appy list for a long time.

I can just see all 5 shelves in my smoker filled with poppers!

[labradors]

Start with RED jalapeños, smoke them a little extra BEFORE stuffing them and, by the time you're done, you'll have chipotle poppers!

[cjs]

good idea, too, Labs!

I think I like the idea of cutting the sausages in half lengthwise, Denise - more of the other flavors. I also cut the bacon in half. I'm ready to do more of these!!

O.K., all notes are taken and will work on again - please post any ideas you do with these.

[luvnit]

Well they look amazing! I'd love to try one.