10 tailgate foods (and recipes) 49ers fans should try and will love

49ers tailgate food you’ll love: Bacon-wrapped, cheese-stuffed jalapeños

So far, two of the three food items listed for Niners home games have some spice to them. If you couldn’t tell, I like to turn up the heat.

Normally, I’d go a little spicier than just jalapeños, but this is a family website and we can’t cross too many lines here. Plus, with the natural flavor of chargrilled jalapeños, you don’t have to turn up the heat much more than that to have a delicious appetizer for anyone who doesn’t mind a little burn.

Plus, San Francisco fans can easily offset that heat by adding a simple ingredient to cool it: cheese.

There are two ways to do jalapeños on the grill (I’m sure there are dozens more): halving the peppers the long way, or you can simply cut the stem and head off to create a cone-like shape.

Either way, you’ll want to remove the core and seeds to leave just the outer shell.

If you do the latter method, you’ll need some sort of stand or rack so the peppers won’t tip over and all your cheese oozes out. Fortunately, most stores sell pepper racks in a barbecue department, or you can use a cheap foil pan to jerry-rig it with holes you poke yourself.

Note: Jalapeños have oils that can irritate 49ers fans with sensitive skin, so be sure to wash your hands after handling them

Here’s what you’ll need:

• A dozen large jalapeño peppers
• A dozen strips of thick-cut bacon (for halved jalapeños), or half a dozen for decapitated jalapeños (standing up in a stand)
• 8 oz cream cheese
• Small bag of shredded cheddar cheese
• 12 toothpicks (soaked in water)

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Partially cook the bacon so that it’s still a little wobbly but neither raw nor crispy
• If you halve the jalapeños, place them empty and skin-side down over direct medium heat for about five minutes, charring them slightly
  • Carefully remove them and fill the inside with cream cheese
  • Wrap one piece of bacon around each jalapeño half and secure with a wet toothpick poked through
  • Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top and place back on the grill over indirect heat for five more minutes
• If you cut the heads off the jalapeños, first place them over direct medium heat for about five minutes, rotating them periodically to a slight char
  • Carefully remove and insert into your jalapeño rack (or jerry-rigged foil), stuff with cream cheese
  • Wrap half a piece of bacon up one side, over the top and down the other, poking through with a wet toothpick
  • Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top and place back on the grill over direct heat for 10 more minutes (jalapeños grilling in a rack typically take longer than those directly on the grill)