Atomic Buffalo Turds or ABTs (bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapeños)
Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs) are hollowed-out jalapeños stuffed with cream cheese (“Armadillo Eggs”) wrapped in bacon, with a smoked sausage added in the middle. Depite the “atomic” name, they’re usually not that hot. There are no regular “buffalo turds”—they’re all “atomic buffalo turds.” They contain no buffalo meat.
Why are they called “atomic buffalo turds”? Probably the name comes from “atomic buffalo wings,” with “turds” substituted because that’s what someone thought they looked like. Variations of this recipe are called “wolf turds” and “dragon turds” (with habaneros substituting for the jalapeños). “Atomic buffalo turds” appeared in print by at least 2002.
[In response to this original post, some inquiries were made. Jeff Wheeler (“bigwheel”) called the product “Cowtown Wolf Turds” in 2000, and Wiley “Coyote” Mixon named them “Atomic Buffalo Turds.” See the posts, below, near the end of this entry—B.P.]
Glossary of Barbecue Related Cooking Terms
ABT—See Atomic Buffalo Turd. Yes, we are serious.
Atomic Buffalo Turd—An appetizer that can come in many forms, but basically is a jalapeno pepper that is hollowed out, stuffed with cream cheese and a piece of pulled pork, wrapped in bacon and cooked until the bacon is crispy. They are not nearly as hot as you would think and have very little “morning after” effect. (No, our glossary will not define “morning after effect”.)
Jason’s BBQ Adventures
Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapenos (a.k.a Atomic Buffalo Turds)
These appetizers are sure to spice up just about any party. They are very simple to make and you can get very creative with trying different ingredients in the stuffing. Always make sure you wear food preparation gloves when dealing with jalapenos. I have tried these a few times and finally had my first success this past weekend, so I decided to give them another go around now that I started this blog. First few times I either received a nice jalapeno burn on my hands (not wearing gloves) or in my mouth (not removing enough of the seeds and membranes).
Ingredients:
3 oz. Package Cream Cheese
8 Large Jalapenos
8 Slices Pre-Cooked Bacon
1/2 cup Chipotle Shredded Cheese
1 T Old Bay Seasoning
Preparation Instructions:
Remove tops of jalapenos and slice in half lengthwise and remove all seeds and membranes (be sure to keep track of the halves that go together).
In a bowl, mix together the cream cheese and Old Bay Seasoning.
Add the shredded cheese to the cream cheese mixture and mix well.
Spoon the cream cheese mixture into each jalapeno half and put the halves back together.
Carefully wrap each jalapeno with a slice of bacon to hold the 2 halves together (may use a toothpick to hold the bacon to the jalapeno).
Place each jalapeno flat on the BBQ cooking grates (or preferably in a Jalapeno Pepper Cooker) (...)
Richard Craig Johnson: Cooking
Atomic Buffalo Turds
Here’s my recipe for Atomic Buffalo Turds, adapted from a recipe found on the Virtual Weber Bullet website. I’ve eliminated the pulled pork, since they’re already very rich. This makes a good appetizer for tri-tip sandwiches, but is probably too rich to serve with pork.
12 fresh Jalapenos
8 oz block cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 C finely grated sharp cheddar
1 Tbsp dry onion
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp barbecue rub
1 lb bacon, thin cut
Wearing gloves, cut jalapenos in half, remove stem, seeds, and white ribs. Mix cream cheese, grated cheddar, dry spices, rub, and honey. Fill jalapeno halves with cheese mixture, then wrap each in a slice (or half slice, if using smaller jalapenos) of bacon.
Light 1/2 chimney of Kingsford and assemble smoker with empty water pan. Add 1-2 chunks of fruitwood (apple or cherry) and adjust vents to achieve 300*F at grate. Smoke at 300F for 30 minutes, or until bacon is golden brown. Serve and eat!
The Survival Gourmet
ABT=Atomic Buffalo Turd
Yes I know it’s an awful name but it is a great appetizer.
An ABT is basically a jalapeno that has a cream cheese stuffing and is wrapped in bacon. There are a thousand ways to prepare them and probably just as many variations on the stuffing.
The real trick to preparing them is coring them. If you leave the seeds and veins in, it will be too hot for some people (not me!). They way I do it is to cut off the stem end and then use a paring knife to cut the veins away from the sides. The seeds and veins should just shake out.
Then I use a teaspoon to stuff the jalapenos with the cream cheese filling:
Cream Cheese Filling
8oz. Cream Cheese
4oz. Cheddar Cheese, shredded
4oz. shrimp, cooked, chopped well
1tbsp Basic BBQ Rub
Mix well.
Once the jalapenos are stuffed, take 1/2 of a strip of bacon and drape it over the top of a jalapeno. Then run a toothpick thru the bacon and the jalapeno to hold the bacon in place. Repeat with all of the jalapenos. (...)
Google Groups: alt.food.barbecue
Newsgroups: alt.food.barbecue
From: “Bill Darnell”
Date: Fri, 2 Aug 2002 22:21:31 -0500
Local: Fri, Aug 2 2002 10:21 pm
Subject: Re: Getting peronsal
> Bill Darnell wrote:
> > > What the HELL is a Dragon Turd?
> > A Dragon Turd is made with Habanera instead of Jalapeno.
> Can you be a little more specific? I’m assuming it’s not a Dragon Turd
> made with Habenero. Cough up the recipe, Dude!
Others could answer better, but here goes. The Atomic Buffalo Turds I make are Jalapeno’s stuffed with Philly cream cheese, maybe a stuffed olive on the cheese, then wrapped with bacon and smoked until the bacon is done. Use for appetizers to keep the crowd controlled until the meat is done.
For Dragon Turds, use Habanera instead of Jalapeno. You can be creative with either. Delicious.
Google Groups: alt.food.barbecue
Newsgroups: alt.food.barbecue
From: “Pete Romfh”
Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2002 18:40:27 -0500
Local: Sat, Aug 10 2002 6:40 pm
Subject: Guidance Accepted
A dozen cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped jalapenos (Atomic buffalo turds).
Google Groups: alt.support.diet.low-carb
Newsgroups: alt.support.diet.low-carb
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (jamie)
Date: 25 Oct 2002 02:10:20 GMT
Local: Thurs, Oct 24 2002 9:10 pm
Subject: Re: Making Stuffed Jalapenos For Halloween
Atomic Buffalo Turds
Mix some chopped cooked beef brisket with cream cheese. My MIL uses about a half cup of chopped meat for an 8-ounce package of cream cheese.
Cut the jalepenos in half, remove the seeds and veins. Stuff each half with the cream cheese mixture.
Place halves together and wrap with a slice of bacon. Skewer it with a toothpick through the middle to hold it together.
Grill on the BBQ until the bacon browns. (I’m sure they could also be put in the oven until the bacon browns.)
Google Groups: alt.food.barbecue
Newsgroups: alt.food.barbecue
From: BrewHawk
Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 07:19:52 -0700
Local: Mon, May 19 2003 9:19 am
Subject: Re: Klose 20x42 Smoker Arrived
>> Beats me. Although I’m a regular lurker/occasional poster here, I
>> don’t recall having ever heard of ABTs before. I just googled to see
>> what they are.
>Uh, OK I’m another long time lurker and googled ABTs myself and I’m still
>clueless.
>Can anyone fill me in on ABTs? Thanks in advance.
>Dan
ATB… Atomic Buffalo Turd
Peppers stuffed with cream cheese and various other goodies.
Google Groups: rec.food.cooking
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: Reg
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 17:32:29 GMT
Local: Sat, Sep 20 2003 12:32 pm
Subject: Re: Texas BBQ
I expect you’ll get some pretty spirited discussion of what “authentic” Texas BBQ is. This isn’t considered Texas but it sure is good. Grilled stuffed jalapenos aka ABTs…
Stuffed Jalapeños
http://www.teddybearbbq.com/appetizers.htm#Jalapeños
The Classic version of this is a Jalapeños stuffed with plain cream cheese a hunk of smoked meat and wrapped in Bacon. See Atomic Buffalo Turds for the Original inspiration. We kicked it up and made the presentation a little more appealing.
Preparation
Soak skewers for 30 minutes in hot water
16 Jalapeños
1 Brick Cream Cheese
6 Large stuffed Olives
Left over Smoked meat
Rub and Mrs. Dash too taste
BBQ Sauce too taste
Hot Stuff too your limit 😉
De-stem the Jalapeños and slice in half then de-seed.
Put the cream cheese, olives, rub and Mrs. Dash in Cuisanart and cream.
Then add heaped handful of chopped up smoked meat and pulse till just combined.
Fill half shell with mixture, top with some smoked meat (optional) wrap
in bacon and skewer.
Atomic Hot
Unless you are lucky to find Jalapeños grown with very little water which makes them very hot these can be rather mild. The solution is to put something hot in the filling. Some kind of powdered pepper will work I found some nice hot Chipotle powder. Any kind of hot sauce will work. You can also put in some fresh hot pepper or make the whole thing out of a hotter pepper.
Google Groups: rec.food.cooking
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: Melba’s Jammin’
Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 10:20:51 -0600
Local: Sun, Feb 29 2004 11:20 am
Subject: Re: That Kids’ menu items thread
> >> I got the ABT’s and some BBQ’ed ribs.
> >> BOB
> >> and the thread you mentioned “ignored”
> > Come sit here, dear—and bring those ribs. What’s an ABT?
> ABT’s? You might *not* like the name…Atomic Buffalo Turds.
> Jalapeno peppers, de-seeded, stuffed (usually with cream cheese and
> sausage) wrapped in bacon and grilled (yes, over a wood charcoal
> fire). They are fantastic! and unfortunately, with today’s
> jalapenos, not very hot.
> Might bring the neighbor’s home brewed beer if it’s available. Miche
> can stay close by…plenty off refreshmens for all.
> BOB
> wondering how/why *this* thread drifted away from the intended topic so
> soon
Julia done it.
Atomic Buffalo Turds? Oy. Too bad they sound so darned good.
Barbecue and Beer
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Atomic Buffalo Turds
I did not invent the atomic buffalo turds, I just cook them.
There are many different way that buffalo turds can be made. You can google it and get a pretty good idea of how many different creative varities of bufflo turds there are. Here is the basic receipe and instructions for how I make mine.
Atomic Buffalo Turds:
20-30 Large Jalapeno peppers
1 block cream cheese, room temperature
1 package thick sliced bacon
40-60 toothpicks
Small package of Little Smokies (...)
Google Books
Dr. BBQ’s Barbecue All Year Long Cookbook
by Ray Lampe
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin
2006
Pg. 232:
Grillmeister’s ABTs on the Half Shell
(Lovingly Known on the Internet as Atomic Buffalo Turds)
Ed Krach, aka Grillmeister, hosts Texas Eggfest, one of the many successful spinoffs of Eggtoberfest.
30 fresh jalapeños, 2 to 3 inches long
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese
1 pound bacon (may be more than you need)
60 Hillshire Farms Smokie Links
1 jar pre-minced garlic (fresh works great, too)
1 bottle Dizzy Pig Jamaican Firewalk rub (http://www.dizzypigbbq.com)
60 round toothpicks, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes (...)
South Carolina BBQ Talk
BigPig
01-14-2007, 11:23 PM
Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs)
Here is my recipe for ABTs. You have got to try these.
1. Take a jalape?o pepper and cut it in half long ways.
2. Next, take a spoon or some other device and “gut it.” Take out all of the seeds and veins.
3. Then, take some pulled pork and put in the hollowed out pepper.
4. Take your favorite shredded cheese and sprinkle it on top of the pulled pork.
5. Then, take a piece of bacon and wrap it around the whole thing. You should only need about half a strip of bacon.
Here is the rub that I sprinkle on the peppers:
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Salt
1/4 Cup Paprika
1 1/2 Tsp Chili Powder
1 Tsp Black Pepper
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
After you wrap the bacon around the pepper, sprinkle the peppers with the rub. You can then stick toothpicks through the bacon to help hold them together.
Cook between 300-325 for 45-60 minutes. When the bacon is crispy, THEY ARE DONE!!! If you are using a water smoker (such as a WSM) DO NOT PUT WATER IN THE PAN.
Hope you enjoy. Make plenty, because they will go FAST!!!
24hourcmpafire
Violator 22
07/25/07 11:15 AM
Atomic Buffalo Turds
This is one of my faorite Party Snacks. Les
The Basics of ABT’s
ABT’s or Atomic Buffalo Turds as they are also known are considered BBQ Crack in the barbecuing world. They have received this dubious title because they are addicting. If you put a tray of these out at your next party, don’t think that there will be any left when you return because your guest will eat these as fast as they are made.
ABT’s are easy to make and very tough to put down. Now personally, I am not a big jalapeno fan. However, when you de-vein and smoke a jalapeno, most of the heat normally associated with the pepper is gone. What is left is a very rich flavor in a small little package. Every bite in an ABT is a symphony of flavors in your mouth. You start with the smoked bacon flavor; move to the jalapeno, then to the cream cheese / onion and finish up with a cheddar flavored smoked sausage.
Here is a list of ingredients to make approximately 20 ABT’s.
20 Fresh Jalapenos (Pick the straighter ones when you choose)
20 Cheddar Lit’l Smokies (1 package contains approximately 36 sausages)
1 Pkg. Cream Cheese (8 oz.)
2 Lbs. Bacon ½ or 1 strip per ABT
1/8 Med. Mexican Sweet Onion (Diced)
1 Tblspn. Turbinado Sugar (...)
Hogwild BBQ
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs)
Here is another post I’ve been meaning to get up for a couple weeks. I posted about atomic buffalo turds one other time, but I didn’t really give them their due. We had a pot-luck party a couple weeks ago and I offered to make the appetizer. ABTs were the obvious choice.
Start out by cutting the stem off and halving the peppers. Then I like to use a grapefruit spoon to scoop out the membranes and seeds. Just use the teeth of the spoon to cut through the pulp up near the stem. Then simply rake it down the length of the pepper to scoop everything out. If you want them to be hotter, take out the white pulp and seeds, but leave the thin membrane on the inside wall of the pepper. Give em a good rinse now to get extra seeds, pulp, etc. off of them. (...)\
Google Groups: The Smoke Ring BBQ List
From: “Kurt Lucas”
Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:28:24 -0800
Local: Fri, Dec 28 2007 7:28 pm
Subject: RE: [BBQ] Origins of ABTs?
Rock,
I asked bigwheel, and this is his reply:
It’s a long story. An old boy named Mike Gunter who lived around here come into the local watering hole one day with some grilled Japs wrapped in bacon and stuffed with super thin soy marinated pork loin strips rolled up like a newspaper. We ate em up like little piglets of course. The story was he got the recipe out of some unknown magazine but there wasnt no name for em. So..I named em Cowtown Wolf Turds and started spreading the recipe as Mike described it. Always giving him full credit of course. There was another fella up in Amarillo named Wiley “Coyote” Mixon..a proud Klose owner might I add..who say he had been making the same type thing since Old Shep was still a pup but he stuffed his with cream cheese instead of pork loin..and his didnt have no name either. Think we come to a gentlemanly type agreement that he would call his Atomic Buffalo Turds..whilst the loin stuffed variety would remain to be called Cowtown Wolf Turds. Seems like the ABT terminology
was a bit more catchy to cover the entire genre of such things..which where either of em came from originally I aint got a clue. Figger they was invented by some drunk injun or guest worker back in the good old days. Have floated down the old Whiskey River a few times since all that was going on:) Aint heard from the old Coyote in quite some time but he used to post on here fairly often. Hoping he still kicking and doing well. Thats about all I know on the topic then folks started using Habs instead of Japs and they got turned into Atomic Dragon Turds or some such thing. It’s all good and as
King Solomon was sometimes heard saying…There aint nothing new under the sun..paraphrasing of course:)
bigwheel
The Pit Talk Forum
Posted by Wiley smokincoyote on December 29, 2007 at 07:51:05:
In Reply to: Well… posted by bigwheel on December 28, 2007 at 17:56:57:
I’m still alive and kickin up here in Amarillo. I read this forum and another one everyday but don’t post much anymore. I do remember the “turd” story though. It was 2000, I just got me brand spankin new Klose and I entered my very first cook off here with a group of fellas that own a pool hall and wanted to cook. They make them peppers to give out to customers on occasion so we made some at the cook off. While we were indulging in a few adult drinks I told them about a guy (Bigwheel) that I know from a bbq e-mail group that makes peppers and calls them Cowtown Wolf Turds. Well we had to name ours too so after a few more drinks somehow we came up with atomic buffalo turds. I do remember when I posted about the cook off and mentioned the turds it started quite a little flame war. I didn’t plan on that as I was just tellin tales about my first cook off. I got e-mails saying I stole a recipe or I copied a name and took credit for it. Me and Bigwheel never had harsh words about it and we are still friends. I even give him an extra tray at chow time when he comes up this way and ends up in the grey bar motel. I don’t know why it ticked so many other people off though. Like bigwheel said people probably been making these things since dirt was invented. We came to an agreement about the names and I guess Atomic Buffalo Turd just stuck somehow. Whatever you want to call them or put in them they still pretty tasty.
(Private Communication to Barry Popik from food author Becky Mercuri on December 31, 2007)
Here’s a “recipe” for peanut butter and cream cheese ABTs. It’s from Rock McNelly in Colorado Springs - who sent the ABT info from the BBQ list folks:
No ‘recipe’ really exists… Just cut off the stem end and cut pepper in half lengthwise and remove seeds and placenta. Then layer in the peanut butter, cream cheese and dried fruit then wrap with partially cooked bacon and bake until it crisps up. You can use raw bacon but it takes too long for it to crisp up and that may allow some of your filling to ooze out before the bacon is done. Par cooked is a better way to go for the oven in my opinion…
When cooking in the smoker we cook them a little differently. We cut off the stem and core the pepper with a melon baller and then stuff with the ingredients de jour before placing a half strip of raw bacon over the top and then pinning in place with a toothpick. Then the peppers are placed upright in a pepper rack to keep them upright during the cooking process. When cooked in the smoker the bacon will never crisp up because the heat isn’t high enough so you just have to play it by touch and feel as to when they’re done. The peppers will usually get really soft when they’re done…