Let's Talk Poppers

[SheikYerbuti]

So I'm going to do poppers this weekend. Some thoughts:

 

1. Some recipes say to split them in half and do them like a potato skin. This makes sense if they're going to be baked, but deep fried I can't see how the cheese will stay in the pepper. I'd rather do them whole and fill the pepper like a cannoli (which is how I've always had them), but I still don't know how the filling stays inside the pepper if they're deep fried. How's that work? Or should I be health conscious and bake them either way?

 

2. I can't decide between cream cheese or some mix of cheddar/mont jack. . .maybe I'll do a little of both.

 

3. Breading. What's better? Seasoned italian? Panko?

 

4. I'll of course serve salsa on the side. Any other ideas for dipping sauces? I was thinking maybe a sour cream type dip too, to kill the heat if anyone can't take the spice.

 

Let's get spicy, people.

[Bier Meister]

when i've stuffed peppers.... anaheims and bells work pretty well. roast them. blacken all sides. place in a bowl and cover with plastc wrap for about 15 min. peel. split them, but not entirely. seed them. stuff. i've used toothpick help re-seal them. if you are using jalapenos, you need to puncture them to create a hole just large enough to insert a tip of a piping bag. i'd gently pipe teh filling in the peppers (shouldn't need the toothpicks). freeze em. use 3 step breading process (flour, egg wash, outer coating). you can refridgerate or freeze some more... then deep fry.

 

 

filling... so many options: cream cheese makes a good base

- jam (razz, blackberry, whatever you want), other cheese.

- seafood (crab, shrimp, whatever), garlic

- herbs

 

* a little cream helps loosen it to get the consistancy you want.

 

outer coating:

- i like cornmeal for peppers

- panko is prob my favorite for a lot of other things

 

dip:

- sour cream or yogart with fruit and peppers minced together (ie: jalapeno and cherries)

Edited October 28, 2008 by Bier Meister

[Jimmy Neutron]

I like cream cheese, jack and crab for filling. I always use jalepenos for the pepper.

 

For breading, I like cornbread batter.

[detlef]

First off, let me explain how you can fry anything with cheese (or even cheese itself). Provided you coat the food 100% with a good batter, the batter will seal up before the cheese melts and hold it in provided you don't cook it too long. This will work regardless of whether you do them in half or whole.

 

Now, I've never actually made poppers, but this is how I would proceed. I noticed Bier roasted and peeled them which is precisely how I would proceed if I were using the larger peppers that he mentioned. However, I seem to recall jalapeno poppers that I've had not being roasted and peeled. However, the peppers need to be at least par cooked for two reasons. One to reduce frying time as not to allow the melted cheese to render out and two, to make them more pliable so they stuff easier.

 

What I might do is the following. Bring a pot of water to boil and dissolve a good amount of salt in there. The water should taste quite salty. Meanwhile I'd either half the peppers (if that's how you want to do it) or score the tips about 2/3 of the way up the pepper. When the water boiled, I'd add the peppers and turn off the heat, allowing the peppers to sit in the brine for an hour or so. This will not only par-cook them but also season them as well as take out a bit of the heat. As for the last bit, I like peppers because of how they taste, not just because they're spicy. Thus, I often like to diminish a bit of the heat when I can. That means, regardless of your tolerance, you can eat more. If you have a low tolerance that means that you can eat it at all. If you have a moderate tolerance, you can eat plenty. If you've got crazy tolerance, hell, dip it hot sauce. You can always make things more spicy.

 

None the less. Drain and dry the peppers and they're ready to stuff with whatever you had in mind. I would try to reach in and remove as many seeds as you can prior to stuffing and, once stuffed, squeeze them quite hard to make them as tight and compact around the filling as I could.

 

Now, to coat them. My favorite batter is either tempura or a variation on tempura. I like tempura because it is easy to make and work with and makes a great coating or base coating for breading. I also vastly prefer rice flour to wheat flour because it makes a lighter, crispier crust.

 

So, mix about 1 cup of rice flour with one egg, a bit of salt, a splash of light beer, and enough water to make it somewhat thick but not like pancake batter. Like crepe batter I suppose. Dredge the peppers in rice flour and dip in tempura. The mix should be thick enough that it fully clings. You could technically stop here but I suggest to bring in the heavy weaponry... Dried mashed potato flakes. Not powdered, mind you, flakes.

 

have another pan filled with these and put the peppers directly into in once you've dipped them in tempura. Roll them around to fully coat. At this point, you can store them for an hour or two without any problem and fry them when you're ready. The potato flakes create an amazing crust.

 

The tempura/potato flake process works great with fish as well. Sometimes, I'll take nori (the sheets of seaweed they wrap sushi in), grind that in a spice grinder and mix it with the flakes. It makes for a pretty cool breading.

[Kid Cid]

Just a little hint no matter which way you go. Throw them in the freezer the night before. Throw them in the deep fryer frozen. You'll have a little longer frying time, but by being frozen, they retain their shape and the coating solidifies before the cheese melts. This helps to keep them whole.

Edited October 28, 2008 by Kid Cid

[twiley]

First off, let me explain how you can fry anything with cheese (or even cheese itself). Provided you coat the food 100% with a good batter, the batter will seal up before the cheese melts and hold it in provided you don't cook it too long. This will work regardless of whether you do them in half or whole.

 

Now, I've never actually made poppers, but this is how I would proceed. I noticed Bier roasted and peeled them which is precisely how I would proceed if I were using the larger peppers that he mentioned. However, I seem to recall jalapeno poppers that I've had not being roasted and peeled. However, the peppers need to be at least par cooked for two reasons. One to reduce frying time as not to allow the melted cheese to render out and two, to make them more pliable so they stuff easier.

 

What I might do is the following. Bring a pot of water to boil and dissolve a good amount of salt in there. The water should taste quite salty. Meanwhile I'd either half the peppers (if that's how you want to do it) or score the tips about 2/3 of the way up the pepper. When the water boiled, I'd add the peppers and turn off the heat, allowing the peppers to sit in the brine for an hour or so. This will not only par-cook them but also season them as well as take out a bit of the heat. As for the last bit, I like peppers because of how they taste, not just because they're spicy. Thus, I often like to diminish a bit of the heat when I can. That means, regardless of your tolerance, you can eat more. If you have a low tolerance that means that you can eat it at all. If you have a moderate tolerance, you can eat plenty. If you've got crazy tolerance, hell, dip it hot sauce. You can always make things more spicy.

 

None the less. Drain and dry the peppers and they're ready to stuff with whatever you had in mind. I would try to reach in and remove as many seeds as you can prior to stuffing and, once stuffed, squeeze them quite hard to make them as tight and compact around the filling as I could.

 

Now, to coat them. My favorite batter is either tempura or a variation on tempura. I like tempura because it is easy to make and work with and makes a great coating or base coating for breading. I also vastly prefer rice flour to wheat flour because it makes a lighter, crispier crust.

 

So, mix about 1 cup of rice flour with one egg, a bit of salt, a splash of light beer, and enough water to make it somewhat thick but not like pancake batter. Like crepe batter I suppose. Dredge the peppers in rice flour and dip in tempura. The mix should be thick enough that it fully clings. You could technically stop here but I suggest to bring in the heavy weaponry... Dried mashed potato flakes. Not powdered, mind you, flakes.

 

have another pan filled with these and put the peppers directly into in once you've dipped them in tempura. Roll them around to fully coat. At this point, you can store them for an hour or two without any problem and fry them when you're ready. The potato flakes create an amazing crust.

 

The tempura/potato flake process works great with fish as well. Sometimes, I'll take nori (the sheets of seaweed they wrap sushi in), grind that in a spice grinder and mix it with the flakes. It makes for a pretty cool breading.

Dude, you just took the popper to whole new level. Awesome.

[detlef]

Dude, you just took the popper to whole new level. Awesome.

This one goes to eleven.

[peteteacher2001]

For a completely different approach I have done grilled poppers too.

 

Cut the tops off of jalapenos and remove the seeds, rinse, and set to the side.

 

Brown up some seasoned pork/turkey/hamburger and drain grease then add any variety of cheeses you want to this and stuff those peppers. I have used different amounts of each for consistancy, it's all in whatcha like. I have used the Monterey blend in the bag from the store to smoked gouda and liked all the results.

 

 

I then wrap the peppers with a small strip of bacon and toothpick them. Grill them until bacon is done and there ya go. I enjoy them quite a bit. Remember not to stuff the peppers all the way to the top to prevent losing your cheese and sausage mixture.

 

These are especially good with the home hickory smoked bacon we do.

[Jimmy Neutron]

I do a form of popper on the smoker too - ABTs or Atomic Buffalo Turds. They're bacon-wrapped and therefore extremely tasty!

[Rovers]

Detlef, awesome tips! I would add only one comment. Around here the supermarkets tend to sell very wimpy jalapenos. Zero heat... more like a bell pepper. I think before I would blanche them for that long... I'd want to know how hot or wimpy the peppers are. I like your technique if the peppers are REAL jalapenos. For these wimpy ones, which BTW the restaurants around here also seem to prefer... heck, I would add some cayenne to the stuffing. Even the frozen poppers in the market use these jalapeno wanna be's. Almost no capistan oil, or however you spell it.

[Jimmy Neutron]

Detlef, awesome tips! I would add only one comment. Around here the supermarkets tend to sell very wimpy jalapenos. Zero heat... more like a bell pepper. I think before I would blanche them for that long... I'd want to know how hot or wimpy the peppers are. I like your technique if the peppers are REAL jalapenos. For these wimpy ones, which BTW the restaurants around here also seem to prefer... heck, I would add some cayenne to the stuffing. Even the frozen poppers in the market use these jalapeno wanna be's. Almost no capistan oil, or however you spell it.

 

Good call. When working with hot peppers at any time, I take a bite of raw pepper to know what I'm dealing with. I then adjust the de-seeding and spices used to get the overall heat I'm looking for.

[detlef]

Detlef, awesome tips! I would add only one comment. Around here the supermarkets tend to sell very wimpy jalapenos. Zero heat... more like a bell pepper. I think before I would blanche them for that long... I'd want to know how hot or wimpy the peppers are. I like your technique if the peppers are REAL jalapenos. For these wimpy ones, which BTW the restaurants around here also seem to prefer... heck, I would add some cayenne to the stuffing. Even the frozen poppers in the market use these jalapeno wanna be's. Almost no capistan oil, or however you spell it.

If there's a latino neighborhood near where you live, buy your produce there. For starters, it will be way less expensive. Also, you can be pretty sure that the peppers will kick.

 

As an aside, you're likely to find a decent taco for lunch.

[Rovers]

If there's a latino neighborhood near where you live, buy your produce there. For starters, it will be way less expensive. Also, you can be pretty sure that the peppers will kick.

 

As an aside, you're likely to find a decent taco for lunch.

 

Agreed... and yes, I know where to get the real deal. Comes from my garden. Habs, Scotch Bonnets, calicoes, jalepenos and several others. The calicoes are a bit like Bolivian Rainbow peppers. I know where to get the good ones... the latino and asian markets. Crap, even bean sprouts are hard to find at the big chains.... and I love to use them in all sorts of dishes.

 

As for tacos... around here, they suck. No cilantro, no chorizo, etc., but that Chipolte Grill aint bad. I generally cook tacos at home.