I usually try and make a new to me recipe for myself and my wife and who ever happens to be over at my house before making it for a party or event. I've tried making poppers the split method with the olive that meathead describes in his recipe but to be honest I found cleaning the jalapenos too much work for too little payoff.
I had my eye on the King Kooker Stainless-Steel 36-Hole Jalapeno Rack with Corer on amazon and I pulled the trigger the other week(use the link from this site to help benefit it!).
I mixed up the Home-made Boursin-style Cheese Spread recipe the night before to let the flavors come together.
I added half of the bacon to the stuffing mix and reserved half of the bacon slices to wrap the poppers while smoking. I figured that they'd soak up the smoke and add something nice to the mix plus I'm a sucker for improvisation.
I sliced the raw bacon in half and wrapped the poppers and skewered with toothpicks. This was also really helpful for a few of the smaller peppers that would have otherwise fallen through the rack if placed vertically.
I started my coals in my weber chimney and I went a bit hotter then the recommended 225. When I put the poppers into the weber the temp was around 315. My apple wood was smoking quite a bit and I put the lower vents on full close and upper vents on about 75% close, sat next to the grill drinking a new to me octoberfest pumpkin beer until the temperature started creeping down. I also burped the grill after about 10 min to let some of the heat out. Once it dropped to about 275 I cracked the lower vent and allowed the temps to rise to about 300-310 where temp remained until I pulled them off.
I used the very scientific method of slightly squeezing the sides of the non wrapped poppers until they gave enough to my satisfaction that they were partially cooked. Then I gave a glance to the bacon and a quick touch to assure myself that it was cooked.
The picture that I'm attaching shows them at about 80-90% done.
The top with the filling got a nice light color and the bacon was just slightly crisp when I pulled them off.
I enjoyed both myself, but my wife said that the bacon wrapped ones were the clear winner.
I'll make them again for sure.
I had my eye on the King Kooker Stainless-Steel 36-Hole Jalapeno Rack with Corer on amazon and I pulled the trigger the other week(use the link from this site to help benefit it!).
I mixed up the Home-made Boursin-style Cheese Spread recipe the night before to let the flavors come together.
I added half of the bacon to the stuffing mix and reserved half of the bacon slices to wrap the poppers while smoking. I figured that they'd soak up the smoke and add something nice to the mix plus I'm a sucker for improvisation.
I sliced the raw bacon in half and wrapped the poppers and skewered with toothpicks. This was also really helpful for a few of the smaller peppers that would have otherwise fallen through the rack if placed vertically.
I started my coals in my weber chimney and I went a bit hotter then the recommended 225. When I put the poppers into the weber the temp was around 315. My apple wood was smoking quite a bit and I put the lower vents on full close and upper vents on about 75% close, sat next to the grill drinking a new to me octoberfest pumpkin beer until the temperature started creeping down. I also burped the grill after about 10 min to let some of the heat out. Once it dropped to about 275 I cracked the lower vent and allowed the temps to rise to about 300-310 where temp remained until I pulled them off.
I used the very scientific method of slightly squeezing the sides of the non wrapped poppers until they gave enough to my satisfaction that they were partially cooked. Then I gave a glance to the bacon and a quick touch to assure myself that it was cooked.
The picture that I'm attaching shows them at about 80-90% done.
The top with the filling got a nice light color and the bacon was just slightly crisp when I pulled them off.
I enjoyed both myself, but my wife said that the bacon wrapped ones were the clear winner.
I'll make them again for sure.
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