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LTH,

Been making Dragon Turds for years, great sunny, or cold and cloudy, day beer drinking BBQ appetizer.

This is the recipe that's been getting all the love from John Kass in the Chicago Tribune.

Enjoy,
Gary
==

Dragon Turds

25 - Fresh Jalapenos*
1 lb fresh chorizo (any type of fresh sausage may substitute)
1 lb bacon cut in half

Cut stem and top from jalapeno
Cut slit in side of jalapeno
Deseed
If sensitive to spice remove jalapeno rib
Stuff with chorizo**
Wrap with bacon, secure with toothpick.

Place on smoker grate, cook until done.***

Enjoy,
Gary Wiviott

*True chile heads, or masochists, may wish to use habanero peppers

**For an interesting twist add a small piece of dried fig or date to chorizo.

***Given the variability of jalapeno size, smoker grate temperature etc. it's impossible to give an accurate length of cooking time. Make a few extra and periodically check to see if sausage is cooked through. Dragon Turds are done when sausage is cooked through.

m'th'su made these last weekend and they were the hit of the party, although someone got one that wasn't completely de-seeded and complained that his mouth was on fire for like 30 minutes.

Fig or date, eh? Sounds a little high-falutin' :lol:

Raisins and almonds would resemble classic picadillo... I usually like to use golden raisins for visibility (some of my victims^h^h^h^h^h^h^hguests don't like the raisins there), diced dried apricots would probably work well too.

One of my favorite tapas dishes is chorizo stuffed dates (mmmmmmm).

I served these yesterday, stuffed with fresh fig and store made chorizo, and they were truly a hit at a Mexican picnic. They were cooked on a charcoal grill though, not smoked.

A note of caution. While I'm normally pretty tough food prep wise, after seeding and de-veining 25 jalepenos, my hands burned for hours. I'm sure there is some sort of hiccup like cure for this condition, but I could not find any relief. When it was my turn to play guitar, I almost cried.

Next time I will wear latex gloves. Thanks for the recipe!

-ramon

No, not really, once you're already feeling it. Quickly washing with soap and water right after handling should help, but once it's managed to get through your skin, you're kind of going to be stuck with it, if you are sensitive to capsaicin. I'm pretty lucky that my hands don't feel the heat. Gloves can be a good idea. Rubbing your eyes or nasal mining can be a really, really bad idea.

Gary,
Yesterday I made a batch of DTs - half of date stuffed, with a spicy peppery Sicilian sausage from Parma sausage co. Mesquite smoked for an hour and half or so, they were delicious! These went on the smoker to use the 'residual' coals after a batch of chicken. I decided to redo (again) the chicken dinner from wiviott.com as I finally found a local souce (um, nonretail ) for 20lb bags of Royal Oak charcoal (was using Lowes 4kg bags of Cowboy before).

pic added in edit



Ramon,
My left hand was warm and tingly last night from the peppers, but not too much. I smear a thin film of oil on my hands before working (don't use too much otherwise your hands will be too slippery). After handling liberally rub oil (vegetable) all over your hands (don't forget under your fingernails; but don't wait around too long though after rubbing with oil), then soap, lather well and wash. The oil will aid absorbtion and washing of the capsaicin.
Next time I think I'll do some with habaneros - those definitely require gloves.

It must have been a Dragon Turd weekend. I made a batch myself yesterday using an uncles fresh spicy italian sausage and jack cheese. I'm pretty much immune to pepper burns on my skin, but have to be very careful when seeding not to breath in the mist. On one occasion I lost my voice for over three weeks due to pepper burns in my windpipe. Lemme tell ya, as a salesperson that sucks.

Flip

Here's a little something I learned from one of Jean Andrews' chili books: there's one and only one thing that will really cleanse the hands (well, skin, generally) from the burning oil of chilis. It's bleach.

So far as I understand it, the oxydizing power of the bleach breaks some essential bonds in the capsaician (?sp?) oil.

Whatever the causality, the solution (so to say) works.

Geo

LTH,

Made <suggestions for snappy name apreciatd> a Dragon Turd variant with mini hot dogs and cheddar cheese for the first time Sunday. The mini hot dog idea popped into my head last week, though I'd guess I'm not the first to stuff hot dog into jalapeno with cheese and bacon wrap.

I ran into trouble early as Romanian Kosher had just come back from a two week hiatus and did not have the diminutive dogs on hand. I went with a large diameter garlic link, which I cut to size, feeling the stronger flavor would hold up well to jalapeno.

Next minor issue was the heat of the jalapenos, mutant peppers from hell more aptly describes them, so, as I was bringing them to a mixed palate party, I blanched before deseeding. The moment the jalapenos hit the water an invisible cloud of eye stinging cough inducing venomous vapor rose throughout the house, it was so intense my wife went to the neighbors. I don't wear gloves working with jalapenos, though as my hands were still stinging an hour after deseeding I might rethink that policy.

All in all they <any ideas for snappy names yet?> turned out well, though after the Wow is that hot! from eating the upper crown, where there was still a bit of seed and placenta, most stayed clear of the top 1/4-inch.

Jalapeno, Kosher hot dog, cheddar cheese wrapped in bacon



Jalapenos were smoked on a WSM along with the hosts delicious Goya Mojo Chipotle marinated chicken.

Majority of Jalapenos on lower WSM cooking grate





Enjoy,
Gary

Romanian Kosher Sausage Company
7200 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60626
773-761-4141

Regarding chile burns... Yesterday I made a batch of hot sauce from my harvested red jalapenos (unlike Gary, my jalas seem to be running merely very hot this year, not blazing. If you like blazing, grow Burpee's Biker Billy Hybrid -- prolific and fiery). I had no adverse effects from seeding a pound or so of red jalas, but my fingers all were burning after washing out the blender, pot, spoon, ladle, funnel, etc. Lasted most of the evening. The sauce came out tasting more like a smooth hot salsa.

Obviously, Gary - these are Hounds of Hell....they look good, at least for something I probably wouldn't eat!

JoelF--you shoulda tried washing your hands with *bleach* afterwards! It really does work.

Gary: just love those monster bites you've created! All you need now is to dip them into some breading and deep fry, for an alternative way to die.

Geo

I find it easier to cut the top of the pepper off and us a corer to remove the seeds and web.

Here's some that were stuffed with chorizo and chihuahua cheese, I've also done them wrapped in bacon but didn't have any left.

When made with normal jalapenos (well seeded and de-veined) they are really not hot at all, and amazingly good. If the heat worries you, try them with red or green bell pepper sliced to the appropriate size.

It's funny, I like the habanero dragon turds, even though they're hotter: I've decided that I just generally don't like jalapenos (especially super-hot ones.) I often substitute poblanos, which can be variable but are generally low on the scale.

I just bought some habanero-style peppers the last time I was at the Evanston Farmer's Market; they are described as being fruity but not too hot. I'll have to try something like this with them...

Winner, winner,
Chicken dinner!

Mhays--do you know the name of those habanero-type peppers you bought? I used to grow a pepper sort of like that--the rocotillo--which had the fruity hab flavor, but no heat. I let it die out and have never been able to find it again.

Geo

I don't know, Geo, but the photos of rotocillos I found online show them to be red. These are yellow, and more pointy than a habanero, although the same general shape.

Scotch Bonnet?

Frankenturds?

Has anyone attempted to make these in an oven?

I'm thinking 250 degrees for about 90 minutes.

I want to bring these to my Xmas potluck parties and am going to be giving it a shot in the near future. If anyone has any experience, please do tell.

Thanks!

WB -

I broil 'em. Bacon crisps up really nice and peppers stay moist, you just have brush with a little oil and put in a broiler pan that can handle really hot fat, turning with tongs frequently. They turn out darker than Gary's, but are very tasty, and cook in a fraction of the time (can't be more than 15-20 minutes, turning constantly).

You may also want to keep any floor-level pups (ie, Westies) away from the broiler drawer, since floor-level smoked meats will draw them like moths to a flame, even after noses have been singed on several occasions.

My latest version:



20 jalapenos
20 slices of bacon
1 lb sauteed chorizo
diced sauteed red onions (done so with the chorizo)
1 lb cream cheese
chopped dates
Maple wood for smoking

Allow chorizo/onion mixture to cool and then incorporate with cream cheese. Stuff into sliced jalapenos, wrap with bacon, and then smoke em. Regarding the peppers, I like having the stem in tact because it makes it easier to eat larger turds . So, I cut it length-wise across 2/3 of the jalapeno, just outside of the stem and de-seed from there. It should be noted, I didn't follow the amounts listed here. I actually screwed up and made more filling than I needed. Dilemma discussed here.

I did ABT's on the 4th,

I used:
10 jalapenos
2 anaheim peppers

miy creme cheese mix:
1# cream cheese
about 1/2 lb ground raw chorizo
scraps from jalapeno and anaheim pepper
about 12 oz sharp cheddar
1 tbsp cajun spice
1 head of roasted garlic squeezed in to the mix.
some italian parsley

ran this mix through the food proccessor, and then piped into the peppers, and wrapped with bacon. Took about 2 hours or until the bacon, and the chorizo was cooked to my liking.

anaheims were almost better than the jalapenos. next time I will try poblano peppers, and some habaneros.

went for a different version based on available ingredients. Used poblano peppers, stuffed witha cream cheese mixture with: italina parsley, celerey leaves, smoked garlic, green onion, monterey jack cheese, poblano pepper scraps, srirachi, yellow curry, & sport peppers.

turned out scortching hot, and excellent.

some ingredients:


pre rolled in bacon:


ready for the smoker:


me and ABT:


finished product:

Pepper in a pepper, terrific idea and one I intend to use.

ABTs look delish.

Enjoy,
Gary

pushing the ABT envelope again. shrimp, cream cheese, bacon, and orange tobiko ABT's. brilliant..







one of the best things I have ever made/eaten.

I've got a suggestion that came to mind looking at these, one I'm not sure I'm going to try myself any time soon: A halved pepper, shrimp inside, a dollop of Teppanyaki-house "golden sauce" and a piece of bacon to hold it together.

I'm not sure the golden sauce will work over the long time needed to cook the bacon, but it sounds worth a try. Perhaps the golden sauce goes inside a larger hollowed-out pepper with the shrimp, to keep it moist?

good ideas,

I am also thinking of less cream cheese mix, and maybe some rice, not sure how the rice would hold up. I guess I will never know unless I give it a try.