Stuffed Smoked Jalapeno Peppers

Otherwise known as ABT's or the long version, Atomic Buffalo Turds.  Yep, that is not a lovely name, but, this is beer food and 'spending all day watching a smoker run' food.  Jalapeno peppers stuffed with some form of cream cheese spread and wrapped in bacon then smoked.  Or you could cook them in the oven if you are so inclined.

First step is to gather up the basics, some jalapeno peppers, cored and seeded, some cream cheese and other stuff.  In this case, I went with some water chestnuts and browned pork sausage.  Because you can never have too much salty fatty pork apparently.  Here are the raw materials...

Then the peppers are cored and stuffed, in this case with a mix of cream cheese, browned sausage and finely minced water chestnuts.

Then the peppers are wrapped in a strip of bacon, I like to use uncured fancy pants bacon, from heritage pork, mostly because I am a bacon snob.  Although I prefer to use uncured bacon of late, it just seems to cook up the way I like.  I also prefer to use thin sliced bacon for this use as it crisps up better.

Next, I rubbed them up with some BBQ rub, in this case, my usual go to prepared rub was used, Simply Marvelous Sweet and Spicy finds itself on more stuff I cook than just about any other rub.  I really like this product and the fact that I know the owner and he is California based helps.

These were then cooked at 225F, until the bacon is done, I very cleverly moved the peppers into direct heat, and then forgot about them for a bit, so these are extra crunchy.  Not burned though, these were terrific despite the dark color.  I found these to be very tasty with an excellent texture.

I do have to note that eating all of these was a bad decision, in addition to all the salt and fat, a few of them were rather exceptionally hot and got the stomach going in the wrong direction.  I do love these things though, great combination of flavors and textures.