Connoisseur Tom’s Chorizo and Cheddar Jalapeño Poppers

Ask any of The Connoisseurs, any of my co-workers, or any of my friends and they will all tell you that I will order Jalapeño poppers at any opportunity that presents itself. For those of you not familiar with this deep-fried delicacy, the jalapeño popper is a jalapeño pepper cut in half, stuffed with cheese (usually cream cheese or cheddar), breaded, and deep-fried to golden-brown perfection. I have had poppers running the gamut from terrible, to pedestrian, to popper perfection (see the review of Iron Cactus for the latter). While I was in San Antonio recently with my brothers visiting our Mom, I decided to take a crack at making my favorite appetizer to accompany Connoisseur Jon’s BBQ Ribs.

I wanted to make poppers unlike any I had had before, so I decided to add some Mexican-style chorizo to the filling. At first I was puzzled as to how to get the filling to stay inside the pepper while it went through the rigors of being breaded and then deep-fried, but then I realized that even in the cheddar poppers, a small amount of cream cheese is used to keep everything cohesive. I used a sturdy pot and frying thermometer as opposed to a deep fryer because my mother’s deep-fryer was in need of a good cleaning (sorry Mom). This takes practice, and I was a bit rusty so the batch was a little inconsistent

Anyhow, here’s what you need to pop till you’re little heart is content, or until it pops itself… because this is not health food by any stretch.

Ingredients:

12 Jalapeños

12oz Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

¼ cup Cream Cheese

12oz Chorizo

2 cups Flour

2 cups Seasoned Bread Crumbs (Panko would be better, but I didn’t have any)

2 cups Buttermilk

2 Quarts of Vegetable Oil (For deep frying)

First split all the jalapeños lengthwise and remove the seeds and vein to reduce the heat and put them in a bowl(unless you’re cooking for yourself, are a chili head like myself, and are planning on drowning your sorrows in a couple dozen poppers, in which case keep the veins in).

Next remove the chorizo from its casing, put it in a frying pan on medium-high, and break it up to the consistency of ground beef. Cook it thoroughly and put it in a bowl to cool down, after draining a few tablespoons of the rendered fat, a little before mixing in the shredded cheese and cream cheese. It is imperative that the chorizo not be too hot at this point or your cheese might separate and give a wonky texture to the final product.

Next, take three bowls, put the buttermilk, flour, and breadcrumbs one in each bowl; this is going to be your breading station. I got my older brother Aaron to help with this part as it calls for extra hands. And it goes a little something like this…

Station 1: Stuff the jalapeños with the cheese mixture just enough to be full and slightly rounded off, usually about 1 or 2 tablespoons worth, but do it by hand… don’t be a sissy.

Station 2: Take the freshly stuffed jalapeños, dip them completely in buttermilk, gently shake off the excess, dip completely in the flour, gently shake off the excess, go back to the buttermilk again, then dip in the breadcrumbs.

Take the breaded poppers aside and prepare to deep-fry.  By the way, for a thicker and crunchier coating, the process goes like this: buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, breadcrumbs.

Once all the poppers are done, wash your hands (as they will look like doughballs by this point) and heat the oil (which you should have poured into your sturdy pot by now) to 360 degrees. Keep an eye on that and regulate the burner as needed. Carefully place 6 poppers a time into the hot oil and cook for about 2-3 minutes or, as the man says, until golden brown and delicious.

Once all the poppers are done, take that oil off the heat and put it on the back burner or somewhere that it can cool down without somebody dumping it all over themselves.

Let the poppers cool for five minutes or so and then serve with the dipping sauce of your choice. Might I recommend a sweet and spicy combo of ¼ cup of hot sauce, 1 cup of mayonnaise, 1 tbsp honey, and some dried chili flake? Wash it down with an ice cold pilsner and I guarantee that it will whet your appetite.