# ABTs too hot



## smokinstevo27

I made my first ABTs yesterday and they tasted great but the afterburn was ridiculous. I seeded and removed the rib, I personally love heat  so my buddy and I enjoyed them but our girlfriends not so much. Any advice on mellowing out the heat on ABTs?


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## ecto1

how about making half with bell pepper or pickled jalapenos


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## smoke 2 geaux

If you ribbed them, I don't think there is much else you could have done.  I find that the heat factor of japs varies tremendously even from one week to another from the same store.  Its kind of a crap shoot.


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## bloatz

Soak the de-seeded & de-ribbed peppers in milk prior to filling... this will mellow out the peppers. I suggest doing 1/2 a batch soaked in milk & the other half without. You will notice the difference!


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## scarbelly

For me the hotter the better but if the girls dont like them you are in trouble - I have tried the milk process and found that it did work a little but like others have said you have little to no control


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## jirodriguez

I hollow out some mushrooms and put the filling in them, then wrap with bacon. Wife and kids get the shrooms, I get the ABT's... lol. You could also try the yellow wax peppers, they are much milder, but about the same size a the jalapenos.


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## lugnutz

not sure it would work but since dairy seems to be the heat cure, maybe you could stuff with some cream cheese along with whatever else you want to put in them.


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## smokinstevo27

Thanks boys. I like the idea of a milk bath. Those suckers were hot but oh so delicious. Its always fun tweaking the process isnt it? I think Ive scared my beautiful sous chef off of ABTs but maybe if I explain that my friends have improved my recipe then maybe I can convince her to try them again hahaha.


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## smokinstevo27

Oh by the way senor nutz, cream cheese was the base for my filling. The initial taste was fantastic but for people with low tolerance for heat the afterburn was quite strong.


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## lugnutz

oh well it was worth a shot!!


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## meateater

Soak overnight in salt water in the fridge.You can also add some flavored vinegar for some flavor. Overnight will not be the same as pickled jals. They will still be crisp but some of the heat will be eradicated. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






  Personally I like them hot.


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## hhookk

Pour a cup of cider vinegar and a cup of water in a pan and bring to a boil. Drop your peppers in. The longer they stay, the milder they become.  1:30 to 2 mins leaves a little heat, but mellows them out nicely, 5 mins or more and they are totally neutered. When you reach your desired time drop them in an ice bath to stop the cooking and firm them up a little before stuffing them. I use this method all the time and it works great for me. Experiment to dial them in to your liking.


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## chefrob

......git new girls!


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## scarbelly

I knew you would be along with the simplistic point of view - I agree but not everyone is a stud like you

Maybe he should post up some pics of the girls before you make final judgement - just sayin maybe there is another solution


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## chefrob

Scarbelly said:


> I knew you would be along with the simplistic point of view - I agree but not everyone is a stud like you
> 
> Maybe he should post up some pics of the girls before you make final judgement - just sayin maybe there is another solution


damn pacifist!


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## mballi3011

I would try some of the remedies for making the japs alittle less hot. But I have found that where you buy them is also a way to get milder japs. We have 3 big chain grocery store within about 5 mile from us. But if we go to Winn Dixie the japs aren't as hot as if we go to Publix, Wally World. Now the farmer market is also a good place to find some japs and alot of the time the good folks there will let  us taste them too. But we go almost every weekend too


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## smokinstevo27

chefrob said:


> ......git new girls!









Shes not going anywhere haha


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## pignit

Do the milk soak on the ones you want to take the heat out of... even an hour.... then don't rinse them. Just pull them from the milk and stuff em up and wrap em up and smoke em up. If they aren't hot enough for you, cut you a slice of fresh pepper and put on top.... that will heat it back up. Keep the girls.


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## harryho

I usually soak the 'penos in salt water for a couple of hours. Sometimes, that takes out too much heat.


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## smokinstevo27

I think next time I will do a bigger batch and try all of your ideas.


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## smoke 2 geaux

Stevo - After reviewing the evidence, i can see why you are interested in keeping your female diners happy.  Good luck to you my friend.


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## pokey

Seems like a keeper to me! As long as she's not sayin' YOU can't eat 'em.

BTW How long are you smoking them and at what temp? I've founf my deveined and de-membraned jalapenos to be too tame after 2 hours at 250. I had to leave some seeds and membrane in to get a little kick.


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## roklimo

Use banana peppers, and chop the jalapenos up  and add to the stuffing.  Then you have complete control of the heat whil keeping the great pepper flavor.


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## northern greenhorn

Yeah, I wouldn't take Chefrobs advice on getting new girls. My wife doesn't care for hot peppers herself, so when I make abt's, I make some using banana peppers for her, I make pickles from time to time, and I'm thinking of using a pickling cucumber in place of a jalapeno, and see how that works, Iet you all know.


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## ttosmoker

The idea of using banana peppers is good, but can be generalized to other types of peppers.  I love the taste of smoked poblanos and Anaheims myself.  Some poblano ABTs will pick up a smidgen of heat, but nothing like some jalapenos do. 

And if the girls like "normal" jalapeno heat, you can think about putting diced japs into your filling for a poblano or banana-pepper ABT.  In my experience, the japs inside the filling do not get insanely hot like some jap ABTs do.


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## smokinstevo27

Pokey said:


> Seems like a keeper to me! As long as she's not sayin' YOU can't eat 'em.
> 
> BTW How long are you smoking them and at what temp? I've founf my deveined and de-membraned jalapenos to be too tame after 2 hours at 250. I had to leave some seeds and membrane in to get a little kick.


I was doing a beer can chicken at around 325, the ABTs went for about an 1 1/2 hr


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## chefrob

smokinstevo27 said:


> Shes not going anywhere haha


yea, i hate to break it to ya but you ain't gonna do any better. take whole canned green chilis and use them.


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## scarbelly

chefrob said:


> yea, i hate to break it to ya but you ain't gonna do any better. take whole canned green chilis and use them.


Look who is backpeddling now !!

She is a keeper for sure and just so ya know - no one listens to Rob about this stuff anyway 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	






 


smokinstevo27 said:


> Shes not going anywhere haha


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## smokey mo

sugar water is a very effective remedy for the capsicum in the pepper.  It does however tend to make the peppers soggy. So here is what I do.  

For a normal batch try this:

2 lbs of peppers ( about 24)

24 oz cream cheese softened

1 cup peach mango salsa ( Costco)

1/4cup powdered sugar (or to taste)

thick cut bacon (I like apple smoked)

smoked for 1.5-2.0 at 250-300. 

Slice the side and rib and seed them.  Then mix peach mango salsa and cream cheese till it is blended.  Then the trick...add about a 1/4 cup of powdered sugar to the mix and stuff,  doesn't kill the heat but tempers it enough that tums poppers are not needed as much afterwards.

good luck.  We sell these for $18/dzn.

Mo


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## chefrob

Scarbelly said:


> ....... and just so ya know - no one listens to Rob about this stuff anyway


no one listens to me about ANY stuff..................


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## smokinjoeb

after you clean the peppers try soaking them in diet sprite / diet 7 up or regular sprite/7 up for about 1/2 hr.  i've had very good luck with this to still keep some heat, but, not scare away the wimmin


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## smokinstevo27

chefrob said:


> yea, i hate to break it to ya but you ain't gonna do any better. take whole canned green chilis and use them.


Are you sayin Im not your type hoss?


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## chefrob

smokinstevo27 said:


> Are you sayin Im not your type hoss?


ya know in prison, anything can happen but fer now i'll take the purdy one with blue eyes!


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## smokinstevo27

Too funny


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## alelover

I think if you smoke them longer at a lower temp they will mellow a bit.


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## smokinstevo27

Im going to try that this weekend. Im cooking a butt for my moms bday party. The only reason I did it at that temp was because I was doing a chicken and I always do yardbird around 325.

 


alelover said:


> I think if you smoke them longer at a lower temp they will mellow a bit.


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## smokey mo

I felt so bad for you I made a batch to show you.


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## smokinstevo27

Those look killer Mo! Cant wait for the weekend


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## wildflower

take it like a man


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## smokinstevo27

wildflower said:


> take it like a man


Thanks for the morale boost Sgt Butters


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## kevntri

wait....wait....wait.....

Tell me EXACTLY how you did it......???

I think you perfected the ABT issue.

I never get any and everybody loves them.

It seems to me, you loved them and she won't eat them....

You nailed it


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## smokinstevo27

kevntri said:


> wait....wait....wait.....
> 
> Tell me EXACTLY how you did it......???
> 
> I think you perfected the ABT issue.
> 
> I never get any and everybody loves them.
> 
> It seems to me, you loved them and she won't eat them....
> 
> You nailed it


Im tellin you Kev these were not normal jalepenos, they really had the kick of habeneros, Imade some ABTs a couple weeks later same process except i soaked them in salt water and the differece was night and day. I think the batch I was referencing in this thread were the japs from hell!


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## rpbayly

hhookk said:


> Pour a cup of cider vinegar and a cup of water in a pan and bring to a boil. Drop your peppers in. The longer they stay, the milder they become.  1:30 to 2 mins leaves a little heat, but mellows them out nicely, 5 mins or more and they are totally neutered. When you reach your desired time drop them in an ice bath to stop the cooking and firm them up a little before stuffing them. I use this method all the time and it works great for me. Experiment to dial them in to your liking.


I tried this with boiling water (no venig) for 1 min then ice water soak until I was ready to stuff them (1 hr soak?).

this solved my problem with undercooked peppers (too crisp) but took out ALL of the heat.

next time I am trying a 30 sec parboil.


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## smoke_chef

smokinstevo27 said:


> I think next time I will do a bigger batch and try all of your ideas.


Seems like a good excuse to make another batch soon. 4 ways right? Non treated. Milk treated. Salt water treated. Cider Vinegar. Be sure to let us know the results. Shoot... I may beat you to it. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






Oh... and I agree... That girls a keeper.


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## harryho

smokinstevo27 said:


> Im tellin you Kev these were not normal jalepenos, they really had the kick of habeneros, Imade some ABTs a couple weeks later same process except i soaked them in salt water and the differece was night and day. I think the batch I was referencing in this thread were the japs from hell!


Salt water works!

Personally I would soak them no more than 1 hour so that it still keeps a little kick to it. I find that 2 hours makes it way too mild, even the wimps that I know end up eating a bunch of them. So......to control that crowd from gobbling up all the ABTs, I soak them a lot less.


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## smokinstevo27

harryho said:


> Salt water works!
> 
> Personally I would soak them no more than 1 hour so that it still keeps a little kick to it. I find that 2 hours makes it way too mild, even the wimps that I know end up eating a bunch of them. So......to control that crowd from gobbling up all the ABTs, I soak them a lot less.


I soaked them for about 30 minutes in cold salt water they still had quite a bit of heat but werent ridiculous


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## smokin-jim

We usually have good luck with our local peppers. I will do the millk bath on some for those that prefer them mild, but I find that after the first one, most folks don't complain and come back for more. My adult daughter is the exception. She gets the mild ones. Also I have noticed that when you grow them, there are hot varieties and mild ones.


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## sescoyote

The longer you cook them the less heat they tend to have.  So if you want less heat, cook them longer.   This has been my experience, although not too scientific.   Let me know if that works for your.


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## smokinstevo27

I just cook anaheims or a bell pepper for her now and the japs go to me and my boys.
 


sescoyote said:


> The longer you cook them the less heat they tend to have.  So if you want less heat, cook them longer.   This has been my experience, although not too scientific.   Let me know if that works for your.


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