You heard me right. That’s what they actually call these bacon-wrapped goodies. Atomic Buffalo Turds. Amazing, huh?
I promise you, they are delicious.
Felix Friend’s foodie roommate Tim introduced me to the glorious smoky, crispy, cream cheesy goodness of the Atomic Buffalo Turd at their New Year’s Eve party in NY. It’s an instant classic.
Tim roasted his jalapenos and allowed them to cool a bit prior to stuffing them with a sausage cream cheese filling. The pre-roast ensures that the pepper will be fully cooked and gives a nice mellow flavor to it.
He got his smokiness from the smoker he has installed outside on the patio of their ridiculous LES apartment. I know, so jealous on so many levels.
The view from Felix and Tim’s patio (which is pretty much the size of most apartments)
If you’re like me though, and have to make do without the luxury of a personal smoker, you could probably do well with a sprinkling of smoked salt.
Be sure to use some quality Bacon on these babies. You’ll taste the difference. My go-to is Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Bacon. Mmmmm baaaconnnn.
There are lots of different variations on this recipe. A few worth browsing through are featured on White Trash BBQ and Jason’s BBQ Adventures.
There are no hard and fast rules to making atomic turds. Except to just make lots of them.
The name alone makes these worth making. These sausage-cream-cheese-stuffed bacon-wrapped jalapenos are the perfect man-treat for game day. If you want to up the atomic nature of them, just keep more of the seeds intact (or add cayenne to the filling).
Ingredients
- 20 large jalapeno peppers
- 1 pound thick-sliced bacon (I like Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Bacon)
- 1 pound Italian sausage, uncased
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temp
- Toothpicks
- Smoked sea salt or liquid smoke (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 F.
- Prep the jalapenos by cutting off the stems and splitting them in half lengthwise. Remove the membrane and seeds inside. (Wear gloves if you have them to avoid contact with the oils from the membrane and seeds.)
- Roast off the jalapenos in the oven (about 20 minutes) or wrap in foil and toss on a hot grill until they are softened. Allow to cool. This pre-roast ensures that the peppers will be fully cooked; it also gives them a nice mellow flavor.
- While the peppers roast, brown the sausage in a skillet over medium-high heat. Drain the excess oil and combine the sausage with the cream cheese.
- Take two jalapeno halves, stuff them with this sausage-cream cheese filling, and then sandwich them together. Wrap in bacon and secure with toothpicks.
- If you have a smoker, you can cook them in the smoker at 225-250 F for about 30-35 minutes. Otherwise, finish off your buffalo turds in the oven (450 F) for 10-15 minutes, turning them halfway through so that the bacon browns evenly. If using the oven method, you can impart some smokiness by sprinkling a little smoked sea salt on top (or adding a few drops of liquid smoke to the filling mixture).
Recipe Source: LickMySpoon.com.
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