Virgin ABT

[pahutchens]

Well I’m slow with this post and PRON.
I did my first ABTS on Thanksgiving. I also threw on a couple of fatties and a chunk of ham for ham salad later. The yellow mini peppers are for my daughter Gena as for her as she can’t cope with the hot stuff but bacon is the perfect food, so I call her version training turds.
I don’t have the best manual dexterity at times and half thought I should wear a face shield while de-seeding the peppers. Wearing surgical gloves I started cleaning the peppers and trying different method and styles of cuts. Well sure as sh*t I’m scraping away and thwap a hunk flies up just below my right eye.
Go ahead and laugh you farkers, it is funny in the retelling. Anyway I’m able to remove that from my face with out to much of a burn and proceed with stuffing the peppers. By the time I get the bacon wrapped my work looks like some third graders art project and I wonder if its worth it, never having tasted an ABT before.
I bring them over to my brothers not telling him what ABTS stands for he just starts wolfing them down and I’m really pleased with the taste and results. Did learn a few things in the process besides that they are worth the effort.
Face shields may look wimpy but then again so does anyone with Jalapeño in their eyes.
There is a Russian roulette quality to ABT’s apparently some (of my)peppers were better de-seeded than others.
In time management way, is there an efficient way of making a lot of ABT’s?

[Big George's BBQ]

Looks good to me

[pahutchens]

Thanks

[chambersuac]

Looks good. Did you cut the peppers completely in half, or cut off the top and scoop out?

[IronStomach]

Those look delicious! :-)

As for the speed, you get better at it with practice. Took me an hour and a half straight to seed 150 serrano peppers for jam. The last 50 went quicker than the first 100. :dunno: They were super ripe though (almost all red) and used a spoon instead of a knife on the innards.

I find for ABTs, a really small and sharp knife is the best for dexterity. And cutting the peppers in the bomb bay door style (a cut 1/2 way through the pepper at the top and 1/2 way through the pepper at the bottom, then link those two cuts with a cut along the length of the pepper, fold the doors open and trim out the seed cluster.) It's quicker on bigger peppers (poblano) than smaller ones. Poblanos too mild? A whole jalapeno will fit inside a poblano.

[sfbbqguy]

Originally Posted by pahutchens

There is a Russian roulette quality to ABT’s apparently some (of my)peppers were better de-seeded than others.

I've noticed the same thing. It's nice because you never know how Atomic they're going to be.

We have a running joke around here as first time my BIL got one it was blazzing and FIL exclaimed "OOH, you must have gotten a HOT one!"

In any case everyone still asks for them and they're the first thing to go at any gathering.

Nice work on the first ABTs!!

[smokeyy]

ABT's look great. I cut mine in half like boats and use a small mellon baller to clean out the seeds and veins, 1 scoop and done.

I know the feeling I had a seed pop in to my eye once then of cource I tryed to get it out and i wasn't wearing gloves to take off and have clean hands! most painful 30 minutes of my life so far

[texman02]

Nice lookin turds...they're time consuming but well worth the effort.... one of my favorite things!

[Smokey Al Gold]

I really like them cut in half then wrapped in bacon but it is faster to keep it whole and core out all the veins and seeds, stuff and then wrap the whole thing in bacon but its just a personal preference thing. I "learned" to wear sunglasses when prepping my ABT's and I always do now . I haven't figured out a fast way to do it its just a job that has to be done. Someone once said "This is what we do." I use an apple coring tool I found at the grocery store for a few dollars to clean the peppers and it works great and definately saves time. Just stab it in and spin a few times (that's what she said) and it all comes out pretty clean. Good luck and those looked really good to me I'll take a dozen!


Here they are finished in the "whole" state which would save you some time.

[Smokey Al Gold]

sorry about the big pic photobucket isn't resizing my pics right

[bigabyte]

Looks mighty tasty!

[pahutchens]

Originally Posted by IronStomach

I find for ABTs, a really small and sharp knife is the best for dexterity. And cutting the peppers in the bomb bay door style (a cut 1/2 way through the pepper at the top and 1/2 way through the pepper at the bottom, then link those two cuts with a cut along the length of the pepper, fold the doors open and trim out the seed cluster.) It's quicker on bigger peppers (poblano) than smaller ones. Poblanos too mild? A whole jalapeno will fit inside a poblano.

I did mostly bomb bay doors (may have been pics from you that I copied the technique) a few I did topless

Thanks for the feedback

[IronStomach]

Certainly wasn't my pics.

What did you think of the difference between the two? I usually try the bomb bay door style ones because I have a hard time keeping the cheese in the pepper when I do them topless. But the cheese still leaks out the bomb doors too.... I guess I need more practice. Always good to hear with BBQ. :-)

[GreasePig]

If you have people that are a little more sensitive to the heat, or run into a smokin hot batch of japs them just cut them in half and do boats. De-seed as well as possible and remember that the ribs have as much to do with the heat as the seeds. If you wrap your bacon all the way around then all the goodies stay inside (or at least still attached) and you don't get the "it's TOO HOT" stuff... Best way to keep the goodies from oozing out is to keep the temp lower and let them cook longer. Personally I prefer them lower and slower for the taste too.

[cowgirl]

Tasty looking abts Pahutchens and Al!