Chucker Stuffed Poppers

Every year we take a little trip to Eastern Oregon to do some bird hunting at Highland Hills. A fantastic Orvis Endorsed hunting lodge that has spectacular upland game hunting, a beautiful lodge and stunning scenery that makes us come back every year. When I leave this place I have two things in my possession, a smile on my face and a cooler full of upland game birds. This year I decided to work on a recipe for my friend Travis who also follows my blogs and recipes. He likes spicy, and he also has a lot of birds in his freezer as well.

So lets rock this thing and make some Jalapeno stuffed poppers shall we?

Ingredients for a dozen:

• 6 large jalapenos
• 2-4 chucker breast (1 lb)
• 1/2 cup of vegetable cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of shredded Colby jack cheese
• 1/4 cup parmigiano Reggiano
• 3 chopped garlic cloves
• 2 cups of vegetable oil
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of panko (optional if you want crunchy texture, otherwise use 1 cup additional of flour)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of butter, and little olive oil
• Salt, Pepper, ancho seasoning to taste

Generously season the chucker with salt, pepper, and ancho seasoning. Bring pan up to medium high, add butter, and about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add chucker breast and reduce to medium. Cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side. Do not over cook them, medium rare is perfect. Remove the breast and let them stand for 5 minutes while you prepare the jalapenos.

Cut Jalapenos length wise and remove seeds. Set aside.

Mix vegetable cream chesse, Parmesan, Colby jack, and chopped garlic to bowl and mix. Set aside.

Bring vegetable oil in a high heat in cast iron pan, or something deep dish. Add jalapenos for 3 minutes.

Remove and set aside

Then chop the chucker breast.

Now you are ready for assembling the popper. But before you do, get your breading line together and a few toothpicks. Scramble the eggs. This is the first decision you need to make. Do you like your jalapenos poppers crunchy texture? If you do use the Panko in the third dish, otherwise use flour again. I prefer the softer texture, but in this demonstration I used panko.

Add some chucker, then top with cheese, and roll it over and pin it with a toothpick.

Get all your poppers lined up and ready for the coating. It is easier that way and creates less of a mess.

I usually set a cookie sheet for the end of the coating station. Dip in flour, then in egg wash, redip in the panko or flour. Set aside.

Your oil that you used for jalapenos we will use again. Get the oil up to medium high, and everything is precooked so all you want to do is brown them.

Set them aside on a paper towel. This part is SUPER IMPORTANT. REMOVE THE TOOTHPICKS NOW.

Then serve and watch your guest smile.

You can use pheasant or chucker, or any other wild game you may have in this recipe. The technique of pre cooking the peppers, and the egg wash is what is important. I hope you enjoy, get to work on cooking that game in your freezer.

The Hunting Chef