I want to share something with you that I’ve discovered in practicing my recent obsession with true slow smokin’ BBQ. While at the end of the day, it’s all about the meat, any serious Q’er will tell you the appetizers and sides are just as important. If you’ve ever gorged on the Elvis platter (pictures below) from Memphis Blues BBQ on either Broadway or Commercial, you know what I’m talking about.

But the appetizer I’m about to share is not even a part of the Memphis Blues menu, it’s a cult favorite among backyard Q’ers and weekend warriors, an appetizer so unbelievably addicting it has been said that it is physically impossible to make enough of them no matter what size gathering you are hosting.

Now, don’t prepare yourself for something modern or revolutionary, fancy plating or exotic ingredients. You won’t find it here, what you will find however, are:

ABTs!

Now, stick with me for awhile on the name, I didn’t invent this, but ABT stands for:

Atomic.

Buffalo.

Turds.

I know, I know. Moving on, an ABT is, essentially, a jalapeno which has been cut in half and seeded, filled with cream cheese (Q’ers often add their own seasonings to the cream cheese mixture), then, a mini sausage is placed onto the cream cheese, and the entire thing is wrapped in bacon and smoked. I don’t know about you, but any sentence with both the words bacon AND smoke in it, I pay attention. Here is a full tutorial:

Start by halving and seeding the jalapenos:

They should look like this when you’re finished:

Fill the halves with cream cheese, and at this point you can mix anything you want with the mixture. Shredded cheddar cheese, cumin, paprika, brown sugar are all nice additions:

Place one mini sausage in the middle of the halved peppers:

Wrap the entire concoction in bacon and secure it with a toothpick:

Place them in a pre-heated smoker at 250F or a gas grill with wood chips and smoke slowly for approx 2 hours. In a pinch you CAN do these in the oven, but seriously, the smoke flavor really makes them what they are. When they come out, they should look like this:

Here is a delicious cross-section:

The slow cooking will also remove nearly all of the jalapeno’s heat, and they are just ridiculously delicious.

I may take some flack for this, as this is about as far away from quote unquote “gourmet” cooking as you can get, but let’s just relax a little bit, and realize that some of the best tasting food out there can come from backyards and homes, and not from over-priced over the top restaurants. Keep it simple!