food safety question - pre-prep of ABTs

Sounds to me,like you are taking appropriate precautions.

Doesn't mean some guy from the county,that got thru the eighth grade 30 yrs ago,and has a $10 instaread therm,and three colors of felt tip pens couldn't ding ya.

Seen it plenty of times.

Thanks, Tom. I'm not too worried about the fuzz as this will be at my brother's house out in the boonies. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a guy with a pocket protector.

Yessir.

Do NOT freeze peppers, you won't like it.

Sure precook the bacon.

WHY parboil the peppers, not sure I've heard people doing that, I'd think they'd get too soft.

I wouldn't use aluminum, not sure it does great in a smoke with acid (peppers)

Just keep them COLD and you'll be fine, I wouldn't hold more than 2 days

Smokin', I'm not sure where I got that parboil step, but I use it to extract capsaicin from the peppers. It doesn't change the texture too much. They take a dip for maybe a minute then go straight into an ice water bath. It pulls enough heat out to turn the water into tear gas. Yes, it turns them into bell peppers basically - but it allows all folks to eat them. Honestly, I've never tried it without parboiling so I don't have a comparison. Maybe I'll skip that step this time around and see the difference.

I guess I'll just prep the night before and chill since freezing is not an option.

EDIT: on my last attempt, something caused all of the heat to transfer to the bottom of the peppers. The last 1" or so was so potent that even the heat lovers had to discard the tips. It was brutal. This may have been a function of the parboil...not sure.

JustADude, Somkin's right. Parboiling them will definitely soften them. Don't forget, you're parboiling at 212 degrees F for one minute. You will be smoking them at roughly the same temp but for a longer time. That'll soften them enough.

Freezing will soften them also. The ice crystals that form during freezing will break down the cell walls in the peppers making them even softer.

Hey, if it works, go for it, just don't boil ribs

To remove the heat, concentrate on the "veins" and get rid of the seeds, you won't need to parboil. For those that were really hot, I'll bet the seeds/veins were still there.