Jalapeno Poppers and getting a thick crust?

I have found that the problem with thicker batters not adhering to peppers generally is to do with the outer membrane protecting the flesh of the jalapeno. Essentially, you need to try to remove or weaken its effect.

You can minimize the effect of the membrane by:

• roasting the pepper, then steam in a brown paper bag and remove it
• scoring the membrane with a fork

Also, the pepper may have a decent layer of wax on it; this you can try to wash off with hot water and a thorough scrubbing.

After many attempts at trying to keep my batter on my stuffed poppers as they are deep fried, I finally found what works best. I roll the stuffed peppers in flour (I season it with salt and a bit of corn meal), then I dip them in milk. Then, I return them to the flour for a final roll. After that, I dip them completely in batter (similar to a pancake batter without sugar or much leavening - but extra salt so the poppers aren't bland - sometimes I add a little corn meal). I find that the cheese stays in the popper (which I stuff after removing seeds with either a cherry pitter or a jalapeno corer) and the batter stays on. Beautiful results.

I read an article on seriouseats that suggested "double breading" them.

They also suggest tossing them in the freezer for a while before breading and before frying to prevent the filling from leaking.

I asked a local bar/restaurant owner how to make my breading stick to jalapenos.. because he makes really good ones. ..he soaks his jalapenos in buttermilk over night. It will make the smooth skin of the pepper wrinkle up basically, so that it gives you a kinda rough surface for the breading mixture. Someone on here said if you don't want the heat, soaking them in milk will help, but they might be too mild.... I don't agree. I don't like too much fire in anything I eat. The reason I can eat jalapeno poppers is because the seeds are removed.. most of the heat comes from the seeds. If you eat a jalapeno whole, it will be way hotter with the seeds, than if you eat it whole with the seeds removed. Of course, this is my opinion, and I've been told this by different people..

Parboil...flash boil...then ice water bath to stop cooking process. Use buttermilk instead. Clean the wax off the peppers. Wet, flour, wet, breadcrumbs, freezer, fry. Regular milk is too thin. Better to use egg for ur wet instead of regular milk. Good luck.