Quail poppers are the perfect holiday cocktail appetizer

When we hear “popper,” most of us think of cream cheese-stuffed jalapeños wrapped with a strip of bacon and held together with a toothpick. It’s a classic Texas appetizer, and nobody will complain when a plate of that goodness is dropped in front of a crowd.

But Chick’s Prime Meat Market in Spring Branch makes their poppers with quail, and it might be the best take on a popper that I have ever had. There’s no cream cheese in this version, just a jalapeño wrapped with quail, with bacon on the outside.

They are sold raw for $3 each. I bought six and cooked them up for an impromptu Saturday happy hour, using indirect heat on my Weber kettle grill with a handful of cherry wood chips tossed into the fiery mix of lump hardwood charcoal. The poppers come seasoned, but I put a little extra shake of some barbecue rub on them.

Because the poppers are so tiny, about the size of golf ball, there’s no need to worry about internal temperature like you would with a piece of chicken. If the bacon is sizzling and tightens around the quail like a warm winter blanket, they are ready, because the quail is done well before the pig strips.

Quail is a lean meat, and the bacon fat gives it some moisture. And that rich quail flavor with smoky bacon and the heat from the jalapeno just can’t be beat.

Of said six poppers, I was able to eat two of them with bite-size bliss. A brief but unwise departure from the table allowed carnivorous guests to end my quail popper experience.

Lesson learned. Buy at least a dozen at a time.

Chick’s Prime Meat Market, 4400 U.S. 281 N., Spring Branch, 830-438-0331, Facebook: @chicksprimemeats. Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Chuck Blount / Staff Quail poppers are sold for $3 each at Chick’s Prime Meat Market in Spring Branch.