jalapeno peppers

cinabun · #1 10-13-2003, 07:05 AM

I have a bunch of peppers growing in my little garden, and would like a good recipe for jalapeno poppers. I have read the few that are here (from my searches) but nothing that is clear enough for me--the home cook.
Can someone help me out? I would like some thing that is like the restaurant ones that are great.
I really like cream cheese, but is there anything else in the cheese and does it fry well without running out in the oil?
The preboiling sounds good so they will be softer. Are they cut in half or whole and just split to put in the cheese or the top off and filled?

Thanks!

Da Bun

Suzanne · #2 10-13-2003, 10:53 AM

I don't have his exact recipe, but a friend of mine grills his stuffed jalapenos. No frying. He just stems them, slits them open, takes out the seeds, fills them with cream cheese, wraps them in bacon, and pops them on the grill. Mmmmmmmm.

If you want to fry them, you'll probably need to "armor-plate" them: flour, egg, crumbs, let them set, then egg and crumb again before frying.

Isa · #3 10-13-2003, 03:49 PM

Have you thought of making some pepper jelly?

Jock · #4 10-13-2003, 07:10 PM

I made some sweet red pepper jelly once. It was pretty good. I never used a hot pepper for jelly though. Nice idea.
I always thought of halapenos as an ingredient rather than the star of the show. I usually stuff the larger (and milder) poblano chiles.
Does the jalapeno loose some of its heat when it is fried? I know that depending on where and when it is grown, the jalapeno can be quite hot or quite mild. I'm not a huge fan of super hot (spicy) food.

Jock

cinabun · #5 10-13-2003, 07:30 PM

Well, I did think about the jelly, but I did that and didn't really use so much of it.

Thanks for the replies!

Pete · #6 10-13-2003, 07:39 PM

I love making my own poppers. I usually parboil mine also, then slip the skin off of them. Without this step the peppers will never get soft enough after being fried. I find it also helps to mellow the peppers also. I then cut the top off of mine, pull out the seeds and ribs and stuff with a mixture of cheddar cheese mixed with a little cream cheese. I find the cream cheese helps to make a smoother, creamier filling after being fried. I then bread them in flour-eggs-breadcrumbs and then chill them for awhile in the cooler before frying. I have tried double breading them but find that is too much breading so just make sure you bread the top of the pepper really well so there is no place for the cheese to leak out.

Pete · #7 10-13-2003, 07:40 PM

Someone recently gave me a Raspberry-Hot Pepper jelly that is to die for!!!

Mezzaluna · #8 10-13-2003, 07:45 PM

If they are smoked, are they then chipotles?

cinabun · #9 10-14-2003, 11:02 AM

Thanks for those directions. I think I will try them this weekend. The Raspberry pepper jelly sounds good do you have the recipe?

I have black raspberries in my back yard too. I made quite a bit of jelly this summer!

Jock · #10 10-14-2003, 01:30 PM

Mezz, yes.

Jock

Pete · #11 10-14-2003, 05:29 PM

Mezz, yep. A dried, smoked jalapeno is a chipotle.

cinabun · #12 10-16-2003, 07:50 AM

I didn't know that! I really thought it was a different pepper that made the chipolte. All good reasons to keep coming back here!

Isa · #13 10-18-2003, 04:27 PM

Jock,

My dad has a thing for hot spicy food so anything I make for him I have to add up heat. He says he's lost some tastebuds and he can only taste spicy food.

Jock · #14 10-20-2003, 07:13 PM

I remember going to an Indian restaurant in LA many, many years ago with some friends. I don't remembe what we all got but I do know, it was all curry something.
In those days I had hollow legs and you couldn't feed me enough to fill me up (I'm paying for it now though

). I was eating all the leftovers my friends couldn't finish and I swear, I could not tell what I was eating. It was all just hot, spicy curry. What's the point? I ask myself.

Jock

Pete · #15 10-20-2003, 08:37 PM

Heat is all relative to the person eating it. I don't think I ever had a jalapeno until I was about 10 or 12 and I thought it was the hottest thing I had ever had!!! Now jalapenos are nothing, bring on the thai, pequins, scotch bonnets and habaneros!!! It is all a matter of training your tastebuds to heat. When I go to my favorite Indian restaurant though, I still usually only order my food medium hot, as their "hot" incinderates my mouth, same with Thai & Vietnamese food. Really, Indian food has a great palete of tastes to use. If you are not use to "hot" foods, just make sure to order "not spicy". For most dishes, they are used to us Americans and can usually prepare it a little less spicy. But, man, there is nothing better than a good burn!!!
That said, I think some people make spicy foods hot just for the sake of being "hot". There is no talent in loading down foods with tons of cayenne or other hot peppers, but good, really spicy food, prepared correctly is a beautiful thing.