How Do You Stuff Your ABTs?


 
R. Hutchins

R. Hutchins

TVWBB Fan
When I first started making them, I sliced the jalapeños lengthwise so I got 2 per pepper. I soon discovered that I liked more pepper; so I started taking off the caps and boring out the seeds and ribs. I bought a device to hold them upright on the grill for cooking. The only thing I haven't figured out yet is how to stuff the peppers without making a terrible mess.

I've tried using a plastic bag like a pastry chef's decorating bag - even bought one of the decorating bags - but I still find that it makes a mess.

Although I haven't tried it yet, I'm planning to get a couple of simple white plastic 6" funnels. I plan to put the cream cheese filling in one and use the other with a blocked/fused spout to force the mixture into the pods. What do you think?

If anyone has solved this problem, I'd appreciate hearing how you did it.
 
I've tried a few different things as well and seem to have the most luck with a simple butter knife. I just put a dollop on the end and smear it in as deep as possible and use the edge of the pepper to clean the knife completely. Depending on the size of the pepper I can usually fill them with two dollops. With a little practice it becomes like second nature. A baby spoon would probably also work well, but I don't have any so haven't tried that yet...
 
what's stopping you from going old fashioned & using your fingers? Your hands are already getting dirty..... ......now I have to make some ABTs
 
I use a grapefruit tool. It has a small spoon on one side and a slightly curved blade on the other for cleaning out the jals. You're funnel idea should work, but do you have an old cookie press lying around? Its like using a caulk gun for cream cheese..

Tim
 
When I make jalapeño poppers on the grill or in the smoker, I always put my filler mixture in a quart size zip loc, then run it under some hot water to soften it up so it's almost liquidy, then snip the corner and squirt it into the jalapeños.

When I do abts, I use the same bag method, just not as soupy so it sits in the jalapeño boat better.
 
Anything w bacon and cheese is a given mess right? Sometimes before AND after the cook (ie eating hehe). I tried same thing but I reverse of your process: I used to cap and stuff the whole pepper (yep w the finger) but now slice in half long ways (boats) . I wanted more bacon and less pepper/cheese w every bite and this accomplished it. It's all evolution till you find what works for you. What would work for me is trying some of yours!

If you cap and core, try the simple veg peeler - some have sharpened ends for just this type of application. Just find one that has the sharp end and it works likes a champ.

Don't lift the lid...
 
I use a pastry bag with a large tip. I also use the soft cream cheese, let it sit out to soften up more and then mix just a little Worcestershire sauce in, not a lot but just enough to thin it a tad, you don't want it runny
 
I go with the slice-in-half method... it just seems simpler to me, especially when filling them with lumpy stuff that's hard to get in the end along with cheese.

Last night I filled the halves with chopped brisket, topped with cream cheese, and wrapped with bacon. The results were awesome :)

I'm not sure how successful that would have been trying to fill whole peppers from the end.
 
Steven P (Tupelo) said:
I also slice in half. Much easier to stuff, and a better bite.
Click to expand...

A better bit indeed in my opinion. I have tried using a whole pepper per ABT but I also decided long ago to slice in half. But to answer your question when I was using whole peppers I filled with a cookie press. It worked okay.
 
I cut mine in half, use a spoon and put in cream cheese. Wrap in half slice of bacon and top with some rub. Delicious!
 
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