This is an adventurous take on a classic that won us first place at a local BBQ cookoff here in San Antonio. While I hate to ever criticize bacon, when cooking poppers, sometimes bacon finds a way to unwrap itself and doesn’t crisp up as evenly as we like. To solve this problem, we wrap these poppers in prosciutto and cook them delicately at low to medium heat. The hot honey at the end is optional, but it adds a beautiful shine to the poppers and a pop of sweet heat.

Ingredients

• 15-20 medium sized jalapenos (deseeded and hollowed)
• 1/2 lb of breakfast sausage (original or with sage)
• 1/2 lb of chorizo
• 1-2 tablespoons of Rattler Rub
• 1 8 oz block of cream cheese (softened)
• 4 oz of shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 15-20 medium shrimp (peeled and deveined)
• 15-20 slices of prosciutto (thinly sliced and wide enough to wrap jalapeno)
• 3-4 tablespoons of Hot Honey (for glazing)

Directions

When deseeding the jalapenos, try not to cut the jalapenos exactly in half.  Instead, cut about a third of the pepper off and use a spoon to scoop the seeds out.  These poppers should be big, and you want to be able to fill as much of the cream cheese mixture as possible without it spilling out of the sides. 

In a sauté pan, cook the breakfast sausage with 1 tablespoon of Rattler Rub until golden brown and crispy.  Once done, remove from the pan and let drain the excess oil.  Using the same pan, cook the chorizo to the same crispy consistency as the breakfast sausage.  Once cooked, combine the chorizo and breakfast sausage in a separate bowl and let come to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, shredded cheese and sausage mixture.  The sausage should be completely incorporated into the cheese so that each scoop of the mixture will have all these flavors combined.  The mixture should have an orange color from both the chorizo and Rattler Rub.  In a separate bowl, toss the shrimp with olive oil and the remaining Rattler Rub.

Like all poppers, the stuffing and wrapping takes time and patience.  Stuff each jalapeno with the sausage mixture and gently press one thumb/finger in the mixture to create a divot for the shrimp.  Place each shrimp in the divot and wrap each jalapeno with one slice of prosciutto.  The prosciutto is sticky and should wrap tightly without the need for a toothpick. 

When cooking poppers, the goal is to crisp up the outside, but still maintain some texture of the jalapeno.  With the delicate skin of the prosciutto, these should not be grilled directly over the flame.  Keep these on low to medium heat for about 20 minutes and flip gently every 5-6 minutes.  Once the prosciutto has crisped and the poppers are about done, glaze each of the poppers with the hot honey.  Leave the glazed poppers on the grill for another five minutes, then remove and enjoy!