The Meatwave

So The Meatwave's month long dedication to wings is now sadly over, but I'm not ready to move off party foods quite yet, especially with the Super Bowl coming up this weekend. Right behind my favorites of wings and mozzarella sticks in the finger foods category, are jalapeño poppers. These bacon-wrapped, cream cheese-stuffed peppers have been a go-to of mine for just about any type of celebration throughout the years. I've inevitably worked through many variations as well, like wrapping with sausage instead of bacon, doing an Italian take, and planking stuffed peppadews. One version of poppers I've always been aware of, but never tried myself, are ABTs—atomic buffalo turds—which throw a cocktail frank into the fold to make a snack infinitely more enjoyable than the name lets on.

With the addition of a tiny hot dog into the mix, I was more selective in my pepper procurement. I dug threw the bin of jalapeños to find ones that seemed well sized to be able to nestle a Lit'l Smokie into. These ended up being the medium sized peppers, which I stemmed, halved, and seeded once I arrived home.

Next step was to stuff with cream cheese. I used a bit less here than normal since I needed to leave room for the franks. A couple teaspoons spread along the cut side of the pepper felt right, creating a small bed of cream cheese that held the cocktail weenie without having the cheese overflow.

I then wrapped each jalapeño with half a strip of bacon. I use to employ a toothpick here to keep the bacon in place during cooking, but I've found that not really necessary, especially if the end of the bacon strip is positioned along the bottom of the pepper—this provides added insurance that the bacon won't unravel while on the grill. Once wrapped, I gave each ABT a sprinkling of barbecue rub, not something I do with standard poppers, but it seemed appropriate here as ABTs are a ritual within the barbecue community.

To cook, I placed the peppers on the cool side of a two-zone, high heat fire and covered. You can make these in a smoker or add a chunk of wood for a more true barbecue version, but with the bacon already sufficiently smoky and no real benefit to low heat, I think hot and fast over indirect heat is the best method for these babies.

I let them cook until the bacon had browned and crisped around the edges—about 20 minutes. I finished them up with a brushing of barbecue sauce followed by another few minutes on the grill to allow the sauce to thicken and bake down.

At which point they looked like this—glistening little poppers that certainly got my mouth watering.

If you're looking for a jalapeño popper that goes to the next level, these ABTs do that and then some. You get all the fruity, spicy, cheesy, meaty, and smoky awesomeness with the additional heartiness of a juicy cocktail frank and a barbecue complexity thanks to the rub and sauce. The added spices and sweetness were a nice contrast to the pepper, while the miniature hot dog made them more filling, but also added a saltiness that started to teeter on being too much, in my opinion. While I'm a classics man—jalapeño, cream cheese, and bacon alone is perfection in my eyes—these ABTs certainly surprised and impressed, something that's not an easy feat with a party food that has become fairly ubiquitous at this point.

Published on Thu Feb 2, 2017 by Joshua Bousel

You Might Also Like