Jalapeno Poppers.

Those look tasty Mike.

Haven't made those is a long time. They sure look good!

I got the recipe from Cookshack some years ago. I have modified it over the years to fit our taste. I make them enough that I bought an electric cookie dough press for filling the peppers.

Smoked Jalapeno Poppers
Taking the seeds and membranes out of the jalapenos removes about 90 percent of the heat, leaving a really great smoked pepper flavor. This recipe from Colonel Tommy Tompkins of the United States Air Force in San Antonio, Texas, was the winner of the 2000-2001 First Prize Award from Cookshack.

MAKES 24 APPETIZERS

12 Large jalapeno peppers
½ pond crabmeat, picked over for shell fragments
1(8-ounce) package cream cheese
¼ cup finely chopped onion
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon ground celery seed
¼ teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon lime juice
¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce
Season salt and season pepper to taste
12 strips lean, center-cut bacon

Cut each jalapeno in half lengthwise, wearing rubber gloves if desired. Scoop out the seed and the membranes. Drain the crabmeat well. Combine the crabmeat, cream cheese, onion, and garlic powder, celery seed, lemon juice, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and mix well. Add season salt, and season pepper to taste (for the most part all of the seasonings are done to taste, and you may find some seasonings that you like better). Refrigerate mixture over night, taste, and adjust seasonings. Prepare the smoker with mesquite wood (mesquite wood can get very bitter with just a little too much wood. I use Hickory or my favorite, Jack Daniels Oak) to 200 degrees. Divide the filling equally among each of the pepper halves. Cut the bacon strips in half, wrap around each half pepper, and secure with a toothpick to keep the bacon in place. Place on smoker racks, and smoke until the bacon is cooked, 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Sounds delicious. Yours look great! I am gonna bookmark this page so I have it when I need it. Thanks for sharing.

what temperature are you cooking them at and how much wood?

I don't have a scale, and the Jack Daniels Oak is chips rather than chunks. I usually add a good handful or a little morel of chips to the wood box. 200 to 225 degrees for 11/2 to 2 hours. Watch the bacon, and when it gets to the point you like, they are done. I like my bacon a little crisp, so they stay in the smoker a little longer.

Thanks for posting this recipe, it looked so good I had to make it this morning. I had never thought of putting crab meat in poppers like this, but man it was delicious! I preheated the sm025 with 2 oz of apple wood to 250, and then let them go a little over 1.5 hours.



I served it up with fried catfish and grilled veggies, wasn't much left when we were done :-)

Looks like you had a great dinner. Thanks for the pics.

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
Looks like you had a great dinner. Thanks for the pics.

Yes, looks great!

I like to do these with fresh shrimp. Tastes great as well.....

I like the crab idea will try it in Texas we do it with a sliver of chicken marinaded with Italian dressing and cut the pepper in half length wise and sometimes mix your favorite rub or seasoning in the cream cheese. This last crawfish season we had left over tails from boil not more than day or too old with some bite to them wrapped them and turned Out great. trick is to leve the top on them so you don't lose the cream cheese. Pic to follow wont let me load

C. Tiger - When you use fresh shrimp in yours do you pre-cook the shrimp? I am thinking perhaps there is enough timei n the smoker to cook them. I know shrimp cooks so fast.

Hey Mike, I used this recipe yesterday. Turned out really good. I didn't realize I needed to refridgerate the cheese mixture overnight so it was runny. No problem! I added some plain bread crumbs. It worked out pretty good. The texture after they were done smoking were almost like eating a deep fried ABT. Very tasty!

Padrefan:

I usually let the cream cheese sit out until it softens so I can make the filling, and then refrigurate it over night so the flavors blend. The next morning I let it sit until it is soft enough to run through a cookie press. This press makes filling 24 to 36 poppers a piece of cake so to speak.

quote:

Originally posted by Vicki B:
C. Tiger - When you use fresh shrimp in yours do you pre-cook the shrimp? I am thinking perhaps there is enough timei n the smoker to cook them. I know shrimp cooks so fast.

Vicki,

I use large raw whole shrimp (fresh from Cocodrie, La) and I cut the peppers in half, clean out the seeds, lay a shrimp in each half, with a long cut of onion then wrap in bacon.

C. Tiger - thanks, you don't use any cream cheese mix?

Btw, I was happy to hear that you made it thru the terrible weather!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Vicki B:
C. Tiger - thanks, you don't use any cream cheese mix?

Btw, I was happy to hear that you made it thru the terrible weather!!!

__________________________________________________
Thanks Vicki...I appreciate the concern with Isaac.

For my shrimp poppers I don't use a cream cheese mixture with whole shrimp but I do usually use a strip of pepper Jack prior to wrapping with bacon.

Another version is to use dried shrimp (which is available down here in Louisiana)and mix them in cream cheese and shredded cheese mixture and then stuff the pepper with that mixture and then wrap in bacon. The dried shrimp are very small and VERY strong in shrimp flavor. You can take the dried shrimp and put them in a food processor to get them in smaller pieces too.

I haven't done this yet, but another possibility is to use boiled shrimp and chop them up and use in a cream cheese mixture. I going to have to try that this weekend.

Great ideas, thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Chacahoula Tiger:
I haven't done this yet, but another possibility is to use boiled shrimp and chop them up and use in a cream cheese mixture. I going to have to try that this weekend.

That's what I do when I use shrimp with poppers. Boil them with Zatarains Shrimp & Crab Boil with chopped onion, garlic, and grated fresh horseradish added. Coarsely chop the shrimp and blend in home made seasoned cream cheese. Comes out well.

I am going to have to try our fake shrimp. My wife is allergic to shell fish. We use Crappie as a replacement. We cut fellets into strips run them through some tampura batter and fry them, or put them mesh bags and boil them. Been looking for a reason to go fishing.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Mike:
I am going to have to try our fake shrimp. My wife is allergic to shell fish. We use Crappie as a replacement. We cut fellets into strips run them through some tampura batter and fry them, or put them mesh bags and boil them. Been looking for a reason to go fishing.

Well, I love crappie and trust me after I fry it, it would not last long enough to make poppers. LOL.