Favorite Tailgate Food - Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs)

With college football season in full swing and professional football just around the corner, I thought I'd share a tailgate recipe Linda and I enjoy - Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs).

I make mine a little differently than most folks. Most people use cream cheese, but I'm not a fan.  I substitute sausage topped with shredded cheddar cheese instead.

How to make ABT's (Atomic Buffalo Turds)

I made some ABT's today. There are several variations of these popular bbq appetizers. Some use shrimp, some use pulled pork, some use cream cheese, but I chose one that favored sausage.

I've seen the peppers cut two different ways, so I tried both as a test. Some were sliced in half long ways and some were cut open long ways to make a pocket, but not in two pieces (see picture above). I prefer the pocket method best for the sausage stuffing.

I cleaned out the jalapenos, stuffed them with sausage, and topped it off with cheddar cheese. Then I wrapped the whole thing with bacon and cooked them on a medium hot grill for 20 minutes.

Things I learned for next time:

1) I prefer a sausage with more flavor. Using a mild sausage leaves the ABT more bland that I thought it would. Next time, I'm using Tennessee Pride.

2) The bacon wrap is unnessary if you use the pocket stuffing method (see above). If sliced in two pieces, the peppers need the bacon to hold it all in place. From now on I'm leaving the bacon off.

3) Instead of cooking on the grill, I'm going to try using the WSM without the water pan to lift the ABTs farther from the flame. This will allow the ABTs cook a little longer without scorching and burning.

Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs)

I'm not quite sure how I've been cooking and grilling seriously for almost 10-years and never made A.B.T.'s. Today I made a quick trip to Publix and picked up the key ingredients for tomorrow.

-Jalapeno peppers

-mild sausage

-bacon

-cheddar cheese

Most ABT recipes also include Philadelphia cream cheese, but since I have an aversion to cream cheese I've left it out.

I'll post pictures of the results tomorrow.