Shotgun shells

[EricV.]

First time making these, I thought it would be a nice appetizer for tonight's game.


The filling ingredients: roasted hatch peppers, philly cream cheese & pepper jack cheese with a ground beef & hatch pepper cheese sausage.



Stuffed & wrapped & into the fridge for 24 hours.



On to the grill to take on some smoke, almost 2 hours.



Sauced with some SBR, sliced, a bit of a crunch but not bad, certainly eats more like a meal, very filling.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Looks really good, when I see these made I always think the pasta just wouldn’t be soft enough….but I have no idea.
Pasta always takes way longer in boiling water than I expect….which makes it hard for me to believe they would be soft.
Thought about making them a few times…..how was the preparation???…..seems tedious from the videos I have seen.

 

[Bruno]

Best looking ones I’ve seen.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

My experience has taught me to add a tablespoon or so of water in the stuffing. It doesn’t seem like much but between the added moisture and the overnight in the fridge they seem less crunchy and just nicely chewy. They require restraint when filling, or they will crack. A crack isn’t always a failure but, two can be a little frustrating!

 

[EricV.]

Looks really good, when I see these made I always think the pasta just wouldn’t be soft enough….but I have no idea.
Pasta always takes way longer in boiling water than I expect….which makes it hard for me to believe they would be soft.
Thought about making them a few times…..how was the preparation???…..seems tedious from the videos I have seen.

The hardest part of the prep work is stuffing the shells, it takes a little time.

 

[ChuckO]

Yours look great. I've tried to make those twice and failed miserably. Even my prior dog said no thanks, that's when you know you failed

 

[Brenda T]

Those look great. I have never had any interest in these until recently. I may have to give them a try, prompted by your pics.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

The first ones I made were probably one of the worst failures in my cooking history! I mean they were table to trash bad!
Second batch was much better, added the water to the stuffing mix, one other thing I have not considered was that “pre shredded” is treated with cellulose as an anti clumping agent. Consequently, they stuff dries out the meat blend so, make it wetter with either a bit of water or a little more sauce.
I have some shells in the pantry, I ought to make up a batch to take to a party this weekend!

 

[Kemper Morris]

Look Great

 

[Brett-EDH]

The first ones I made were probably one of the worst failures in my cooking history! I mean they were table to trash bad!
Second batch was much better, added the water to the stuffing mix, one other thing I have not considered was that “pre shredded” is treated with cellulose as an anti clumping agent. Consequently, they stuff dries out the meat blend so, make it wetter with either a bit of water or a little more sauce.
I have some shells in the pantry, I ought to make up a batch to take to a party this weekend!

maybe a par-boil of the shells will help? and then also add moisture to the beef and sauce so the cooked shell isn't like plastic?

 

[EricV.]

The crunch I experienced was more on the end pieces, I have read that its common to discard the ends when making slices.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

maybe a par-boil of the shells will help? and then also add moisture to the beef and sauce so the cooked shell isn't like plastic?

I’ve talked about that several times. I think par boiling and trying to stuff is a LOT more work than simply adding some water to the stuffing.
Trying to stuff a soft shell would be rather like trying to put a condom on an oyster!
I’ve had success with maybe a tablespoon or so of water in the stuffing mix. I don’t understand why this par boiling concept keeps coming up, that would really be overkill in my opinion. It’s not very complicated.
Make a little wetter stuffing, let them rest overnight wrapped and loosely covered with plastic wrap. I don’t see any reason to do additional steps when they really are not necessary.
Additional steps, more cleanup, none of which are needed. KISS methodology works for me.

 

[Tim Campbell]

So, exactly how do you stuff these?

Combine entire mixture homogeneously, then into a piping bag??

 

[Brett-EDH]

Trying to stuff a soft shell would be rather like trying to put a condom on an oyster!

par boiled is not soft shell. god help us if you're putting condoms on oysters.

place your stuffing in a ziplock bag, cut the pointed end off and squeeze stuffing into both sides of the shell.

it's really not that difficult.

notice, i avoided using "hard" and chose difficult. i don't want you getting further lost with your oysters and weird things you're doing to them.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

par boiled is not soft shell. god help us if you're putting condoms on oysters.

place your stuffing in a ziplock bag, cut the pointed end off and squeeze stuffing into both sides of the shell.

it's really not that difficult.

notice, i avoided using "hard" and chose difficult. i don't want you getting further lost with your oysters and weird things you're doing to them.

That’s an old George Burns joke, I don’t remember the entire context but, the idea is clear.
I know the difference between “par” and soft, I simply don’t see the need when a little extra moisture in the stuffing will do the trick.
I tried the ziplock method which works pretty well but, really if they are firm you can pretty easily fill a manicotti tube.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

The crunch I experienced was more on the end pieces, I have read that its common to discard the ends when making slices.

Yep, the ends can be pretty crispy! I just trim them

 

[EricV.]

So, exactly how do you stuff these?

Combine entire mixture homogeneously, then into a piping bag??

Very carefully, I just used my hand, I tried to get about half a shell filled poking with my index finger, then stuff the opposite end. I suppose you could use a makeshift piping bag via a ziplock baggie.

 

[Tim Campbell]

Very carefully, I just used my hand, I tried to get about half a shell filled poking with my index finger, then stuff the opposite end. I suppose you could use a makeshift piping bag via a ziplock baggie.

Did you mix all ingredients before filling? Those look incredible.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Did you mix all ingredients before filling? Those look incredible.

Yes.