# Whee! My first ABT's!



## thebarbequeen (Oct 20, 2010)

Late notice party invite=excuse to try my first abt's!  The teenage son had just finished all the milk, so I tried soaking them in a big bowl of cold water with a few tablespoons of sugar dissolved in it, just going out on a limb, since sugar is the other "antidote" when you eat a hot one.  Didn't get any complaints about too much heat, so it either helped some or at least didn't hurt any. I had about 16-18 peppers, halved them right down the stem. The small end of my melon baller worked perfectly at getting out the seed and veins. They soaked a couple hours, and I changed the water once. 








The filling:  8 oz. cream cheese, 2-3 pressed garlic cloves, 4 minced green onions, 1/2 tsp Old Bay (I use that stuff in practically everything!), generous 1/2 tsp each ground cumin and paprika, dash of Adobo lemon pepper, about 1/4 tsp. worchestershire - mixed that up, then added about 6 oz grated cheddar.

The cumin and paprika gave it just a bit of Mexican flavor, without being obviously taco-like. They also gave it a really nice color. I let it rest to develop flavor, 1-2 hours.  After stuffing, each got a sliver of really good andouille from my butcher shop.  I didn't pipe the stuffing in, just pressed it in with my little offset spatula.  It's one of my very favorite tools.







did a 1/2 slice bacon wrap.  most of them held ok.







After I got them all wrapped, I used a small sieve and sprinkled just a dusting of brown sugar over the tops.

Put them in the CSE, set to 250, not preheated. About 1-1/2 oz. chips apple? alder? my bad-forgot to note.

They were done in about one hour and ten minutes.







They were a success, of course!  People loved the layers of flavor that the spice mixture brought in.  They had to be transported, so they went into a foil pan and got reheated in the oven at the party. No texture issues on the bacon.

can't wait for my next exuse to make some!   thanks for looking!


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## scarbelly (Oct 20, 2010)

Those look mighty tasty. Congrats on your first ones.


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## rbranstner (Oct 20, 2010)

Oh man I bet you were the life of the party with those ABT's. They are ALWAYS a huge hit.


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## rdknb (Oct 20, 2010)

very good on your first.  Congrats


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## meateater (Oct 20, 2010)

Looking good, nice ninja knife skills splitting the stems, gotta try that.


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## rbranstner (Oct 20, 2010)

meateater said:


> Looking good, nice ninja knife skills splitting the stems, gotta try that.




I didn't notice that in my first look. Nicely done! The stem would be a nice little tool to hold onto when eating.


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## beer-b-q (Oct 20, 2010)

Great Looking ABTs...


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## pokey (Oct 21, 2010)

Beautiful! I've gotta try splitting the stems like that. Nice touch!


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## morkdach (Oct 21, 2010)

Nice good looken ABT'S


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## wildflower (Oct 21, 2010)




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## mballi3011 (Oct 21, 2010)

Now you have done a fantastic job on your first try at the Abt's they look wonderful.


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## sqwib (Oct 22, 2010)

Awesome.

Did you actually split the stems as well?

Well done.


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## thebarbequeen (Oct 24, 2010)

SQWIB said:


> Awesome.
> 
> Did you actually split the stems as well?
> 
> Well done.




 yep, right down the middle.  I wanted to leave the halves as intact as I could, so the cheese wouldn't be tempted to sneak out the end, and to provide people with a way to pick them up.


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## pineywoods (Oct 24, 2010)

Great job and the split stems is the perfect touch


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## richoso1 (Oct 24, 2010)

Congrats on what will be a common practice in your home.ABT's are always a welcome treat. It's all good my friend.


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## sqwib (Oct 25, 2010)

TheBarbeQueen said:


> yep, right down the middle.  I wanted to leave the halves as intact as I could, so the cheese wouldn't be tempted to sneak out the end, and to provide people with a way to pick them up.




That is awesome, I try to leave them stems but you need really fresh peps for that.

They must have been pretty fresh, I bought a bunch this weekend and the stems were starting to dry out.


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## scarbelly (Oct 25, 2010)

I stopped at a market called Vallarta yesterday looking for some pork bellies (they were out) and they had japs on sale 2# for $1 so I grabbed me a bag and hope to do some ABT's this week


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## thebarbequeen (Oct 25, 2010)

Scarbelly said:


> I stopped at a market called Vallarta yesterday looking for some pork bellies (they were out) and they had japs on sale 2# for $1 so I grabbed me a bag and hope to do some ABT's this week


mmmmmmmm. pork bellies...another item on my to do soon list


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## chefrob (Oct 25, 2010)

nice job on the abt's!!!


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## chefrob (Oct 25, 2010)

ummmmmmmmmm.....................
 


Scarbelly said:


> I stopped by the docks yesterday looking for some young strapping salors but they were out so I headed over to west hollywierd..........


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## porked (Jan 2, 2011)

Awesome, great job!


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## SmokinAl (Jan 8, 2011)

Yep them stems make great handles, just like shrimp tails! Nice job on your first try.


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## jewelspapa (Jan 10, 2011)

I keep hearing about this Old Bay seasoning. I guess I need to find some and try it out.


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## smokinstevo27 (Jan 10, 2011)

Old Bay is a classic my man, I'll bet you've had it out somewhere and didn't even realize it. If you have ever been to a seafood joint chances are you had something seasoned with Old Bay.

 


jewelspapa said:


> I keep hearing about this Old Bay seasoning. I guess I need to find some and try it out.


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