Atomic Buffalo Turds! Or as they are commonly referred to ABTs are one of the first BBQ appetizers I fell in love with.  These babies are packed full of flavor and are always a huge crowd pleaser whenever they are served. There are a variety of different ways to make ABTs.  Sometimes using jalapeno “boats” and other times standing up on end.

No matter how they are made there are usually three standard ingredients.  Jalapeno, bacon and some type of cheese.  I think cream cheese is the most popular to use, but any type can be used. Besides the bacon there is often another meat used.  I like to use “lil smokies” because they add a great flavor and provide a little texture to the ABT.

Here’s a step by step instruction on how I make my Atomic Buffalo Turds:

It’s a good practice to use rubber gloves during most of these processes. You don’t want to get the capsaicin on your hands, trust me on this one.  I’ve made the mistake, too many times, of thinking I could do this part and not end up burning some part of my body.  (Left) Wash the jalapenos and then cut them in half length wise.  Remove the seeds and veins.  I use an old fashion  potato peeler to scrap the insides out of the jalapenos. (Right) Fill the jalapeno cavity with cream cheese.

(Left) Next, give the cream cheese a good dash of your favorite BBQ rub.  (Right) Take some lil smokies and cut them in half.  Add a piece of sausage to each jalapeno.  You can use a whole sausage if you want, but I find a half piece is enough.

(Left) Wrap each ABT in half a slice of bacon.  You can use thick bacon if you want, but I think the thin sliced works the best.  Secure the bacon with a toothpick. (Right) Another dash of the BBQ rub goes on next.  Now you’re ready to put them on the smoker.

I prefer to smoke my ABTs at 225 degrees until the bacon is almost done and then crank the heat up to about 300 degrees until the bacon gets good and crisp.  No sauce is necessary but I like to serve my ABTs with a little additional hot sauce or BBQ sauce for dipping if someone wants a little additional flavor.

You don’t need a smoker to make great Atomic Buffalo Turds.  Just set your gas or charcoal grill up with indirect heat.  The bacon and sausage is going to drip so make sure they aren’t directly over the heat source and you’ll be just time.

NOTE:  If you don’t like the heat jalapenos normally have here is a tip on how to tame them.

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I was an early adopter of Bacon Salt and have sung it’s praises ever since the first time I sprinkled it on my eggs one morning.  A few years later along came Baconnaise, a tasty mixture of bacon and mayonnaise.  I’ve been a devoted user ever since.  So when Justin Esch emailed me recently to ask if I wanted to try Bacon Croutons I said yes.  Even before they arrived I started to think about how I was going to use them.  Croutons are normally found on salads.  But it wasn’t likely that I was going to waste the goodness of bacon on a salad.  I had to come up with something more exciting than lettuce.

Over on Pork, Knife and Spoon I have been working on a series of blog posts on pork ribs.  I had some rib trimmings left over and it occurred to me that a Pulled Pork Cake, much along the lines of a crab cake could be a beautiful and tasty creation.  Usually I start my recipe development with a bit of internet and cookbook research.  My search for “pork cakes” lead to very little information but it did lead me to an actual pork cake.   I figured the best way to do a pulled pork cake was to make them as similar to a crab cake as possible.

I made up the pulled pork cakes, following the recipe below, and as I was getting ready to pan fry them the bag of J&D Bacon Croutons were staring across the kitchen counter at me.  It’s almost as if they were speaking to me.  It was in that brief moment that inspiration struck.  I decided to crush the Bacon Croutons and use them to bread the pulled pork cakes.  It’s not the first time I’ve had inspiration in the kitchen, but rarely does that inspiration come out as good as this one did.  The combination of the pulled pork, seasoning and bacon created a fantastic flavor profile.  I’m going to be making these pulled pork cakes when I have left over pulled pork.

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Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011-2012 Larry Gaian

Watermelon Rind that tasted good!  Who would have thought that?  Certainly not me.  I was originally going to make a fresh peach chutney to go with this dish but it’s a little early to find peaches in the store.  This led to a little searching through cookbooks and the internet.  I came across a lot different chutney recipes and since I’d just finished cutting up a watermelon and had a bowl full of rinds I figured I’d give it a try.  And I’m so glad I did.

This recipe is a little different from the previous plank grilling recipes in this series.  Normally, you pre-heat the planks until they just start to smolder.  With this one you heat the plank until it actually starts to burn.  You want a nice dark char on the plank.

Once you’ve got the char, turn the heat down and put the brie on the plank.  Close the lid and cook the brie for about 20 minutes or until it gets nice and soft.

Once the brie is soft, plate it and top with the chutney.  Serve with grilled crostini.

What I found was that I didn’t really care for the brie by itself and the watermelon rind chutney was just okay.  But it made for a fantastic flavor when combined.  I really, really liked this appetizer and it will likely become a regular for our family get together. (Giant thank you to Chef Robin White for the inspiration and technique for this blog post)

Watermelon Rind Chutney

Ingredients:

• 6 cups 1/2″ diced watermelon rind
• 1½ cups cider vinegar
• 1½ cups water
• 2 cups sugar
• ¼ cup fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 2  tbsps minced jalapeno, with or without seeds.
• 1½ tbsps minced garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp crushed black peppercorns

Directions:

Remove the watermelon flesh from rind.  Make sure you remove all the pink flesh from rind.  With a sharp knife remove the green peel and discard.  Cut the rind into 1/2 inch cubes.

In a 4-quart saucepan, combine rind, cider vinegar, water, sugar, ginger, cayenne peppers, garlic, salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil, and stir until sugar dissolves. Simmer 45–55 minutes or until rind is tender and translucent and liquid is syrupy.

Cool chutney and chill in airtight container for 1–3 days to allow flavors to mellow.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

There are a variety of “popper” holders available on the internet for purchase.  I’ve got all kinds of BBQ tools and I’m not always hesitant to buy what I need in the accessory department.  But for some reason I just can’t bring myself to spend the money for what is basically a sheet of metal with holes cut in it.

Recently, I saw a post on the BBQ Brethren that showed a simple and inexpensive way to hold your jalapenos while they are cooking…a egg carton.  This post led me to an article in the in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel where I learned the original idea seems to have originated with Arlie Davis.

Making ABTs is very simple and you’ve got to give them a try.  With Spring and Summer right around the corner these need to be on your “to do” list.  All you need are some jalapenos, cream cheese, random fillings, bacon, toothpicks and some kind of holder for your grill/smoker.

So the process to make ABTs is so, so simple…

All you need are some jalapenos, cream cheese, bacon and some kind of meat to mix into the cream cheese.  There’s a variety of different things that can be mixed into the cheese.  I’ve used Lil Smokeys but this time I used some of the Tasso I smoked a couple of weeks ago.

(NOTE:  If  you love jalapenos but can’t stand the heat here’s a tip on how to tame them.  Click here)

So the first step is to cut the tops off the jalapenos.  Make sure you wear rubber gloves and glasses when cooking with jalapenos.  Some misplaced jalapeno juice can cause a lot of pain if you get it somewhere it shouldn’t.

The next step is to remove the insides of the jalapenos.  Taking out the seeds and veins not only makes room for the fillings, but it removes the part that contains a lot of the heat.  (If you want to have completely tamed jalapenos try this technique I wrote about last year.)  The next step is to mix the meat into the softened cream cheese.

Now comes the fun part.  Take your egg carton and turn it upside down.  Remove the bottoms of each cup.  This will hold jalapenos of any size.

Fill the jalapenos with the cream cheese mixture, top the jalapeno with bacon and secure it with a toothpick.

Place the “carton” of ABTs in your smoker.  I smoke mine at 225 degrees for about an hour or until the bacon gets crisp.

You can do these on a grill but make sure you use indirect heat.  The reason using a cardboard egg carton works is because you are not putting these over a direct flame or direct heat.

DO NOT place the cardboard egg carton over direct heat.  The cardboard absorbs the bacon drippings and will make the egg carton very flammable.

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