I bought a pack of chicken thighs to try something different on the Bullet. Lately, it’s been mostly pork and beef, with the odd holiday turkey thrown in. And, of course, my favorite: pastrami.

I had read that most BBQ teams use chicken thighs in competition. And it makes sense– they’re relatively quick cooking and somewhat forgiving on over-doneness, so you can concentrate on flavors of seasonings, marinades, etc. without worrying about the dryness often possible in over-done white meat.

The pack I purchased contained a dozen small bone-in thighs– 3 lbs. total. I prepped them 24 hours in advance by placing them in a large ziplock bag with 8 oz. of Paul Newman’s Parmesan & Roasted Garlic dressing.

Figuring I wanted to cook quick and hot, I made use of a single Weber chimney-full of leftover used briquets, which is essentially the same as using hotter-burning lump charcoal. I was shooting for 300*, measured at the top grate. I figured the hotter coals and short cooking time would make this amount of fuel sufficient.

While the charcoal fired up, I removed the thighs from the marinade, and lightly sprinkled them on both sides with McCormick’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning.

In 30 minutes, the charcoal was ready, and I dumped it into the charcoal ring. I assembled the cooker, leaving the foil-lined water pan dry. I added two small chunks of hickory to the top of the coals, and placed the chicken pieces on the top grate skin-side up.

Outside temp was 42*. The cooker temp stabilized at 250* with all vents wide open, so I employed a rarely-used trick of propping the access door open about a half-inch to allow more oxygen to the fire. The temp increased to 290* in short order.

At the one hour mark, I checked several of the thighs with an instant read themometer, and they all read 176-178*– done, and with a perfect golden brown color.

The result was fabulous. Tender and flavorful, the combination of marinade, seasoning and smoke were perfect. No sauce was necessary. I had seconds, and thirds.

This is an example of a great quick cook on the Weber Bullet, and cheap, too. The thighs were $.69/lb, and the charcoal was essentially free. I look forward to doing more again real soon.

I wanted to grill some burgers, but the gas grill has been long neglected since I got my Weber Bullet. It would take more time to clean it up just for some burgers than time allowed. A George Foreman grill is quick– burgers in five minutes– but lacks that certain something that gives a good burger character. Looking out the back door, there was the Bullet and just enough charcoal leftovers for a quick cook.

I assembled the Bullet, bottom vents open, and placed the charcoal grate and ring on the brackets normally used for the lower cooking grate. I lit the Weber Chimney, two-thirds full of leftover briquets and smoke wood, which took about 15 minutes to get going. I dumped the coals into the ring, banked to one side so I could have a hot zone and a medium zone.

The whole cook took about 22 minutes to achieve medium doneness. I even toasted the buns on the far edge away from the coals. After the burgers came off, it was just like any other Bullet cook– close it up and let the coals go out.

What have we learned? The difference between a bland burger and a great one is about 27 minutes.

Full size pictures from this cook.

Wanting a change from brisket, but still looking for a cut of beef to slow-cook, I decided to try a tri-tip roast. They usually average two pounds as typically trimmed by your grocer. This one was a USDA Choice, priced at $2.99/lb. at a local supermarket. I got started at around 11:30am, figuring it to be done, rested and ready to eat by about 5:00pm.

While firing up a Weber chimney-and-a-half of charcoal, I trimmed some fat off the roast to leave about a 1/8-inch layer. I then coated it lightly with olive oil, and sprinkled on some McCormick’s Montreal Steak Seasoning– great on grilled steaks– surprisingly good on slow-cooked beef barbecue. By 12:30pm, the coals were ready and I put the meat on the top grate. I added a large chunk of hickory, and a medium chunk of oak. With the bottom vents all closed, the temp dropped quickly from 315° to 210. I opened two bottom vents about 1/3 each, and the temp rose only to about 225. I then remembered I was using only 3/4 of the amount of charcoal I usually do, so I cracked the 2 vents to about 1/2 open each, which brought me to my target 240-250° range.

Things sailed along fine, and, at about 3:00pm, I broke out the digital probe thermometer to find I was already at 159°. I was going to be done much sooner than anticipated. It’s probably because I didn’t have anything else cooking, so there was nothing but the roast to absorb the heat energy. Within a half hour, I was at 165. No matter– I wrapped it in heavy foil and towels, and put it into a small ice chest to await dinner time. The temperature declined slowly, and since it dropped to 145 before I was ready to eat, I placed it in a 165° warm oven until a little later.

At 5:30pm, I carved it into 1/4-inch thick slices, and served it as-is. It was very tender and had good flavor, but I think I still prefer brisket.

I did a 9.75 pound whole brisket yesterday, and, while not the best I’ve done, it was OK. I didn’t have time for an extended cook, so I decided to forego cooking it whole, and separated the flat from the point and divided the flat approximately in half so I could remove the thinner half if it got done sooner.

The result was an 8 hour cook to reach 185* in the larger flat piece, with temps hanging rock-solid (not exaggerating– I barely nudged the vents twice in 8 hours) at 240*. I left the point on for another 90 minutes– until the coals were on their last legs.

The flat, sliced after resting, was very tender, but not as juicy or flavorful as my last brisket flat. I blame this on a couple of things: One, I was a bit lax on basting, even though I did turn at the half-times (at the 4, 6, and 7 hour marks). Two, it was an $.88/lb. select brisket. I think I can remediate this one with some careful re-heating procedures, though. (Update: a reheat of the sliced brisket in a warm oven in a shallow foil-covered dish with one cup of vegetable broth pre-heated in the microwave, for about 10 minutes did the trick.)

The point I shredded immediately upon removal, gave it a light sprinkle of rub, and mixed well. A taste test proved I’m gonna have some fabulous sandwiches this week.

I bought a trimmed brisket flat for $1.19/lb. At about 4.75 pounds, it woudn’t be an extended cook. A “flat” is one of two parts that comprise a “whole” brisket. The other part, known as a “point” is not usually offered for sale separately. The point is typically fattier than the flat. The two parts are essentially two different muscles from the breast area of the cow connected in a sort of offset manner by a vein of fat. Brisket flats are usually offered trimmed of most if not all of the layer of fat known as the “fat cap”.

I prepped the flat the night before, by sprinkling both sides liberally with McCormick’s Montreal Steak Seasoning. Sounds unconventional, but it proved very tasty.

Firing up the Bullet conventionally, I used 2 Weber chimneyfulls of Kingsford. I took the opportunity to try out my new Polder remote digital thermometer.

Temperatures on the Bullet stabilized quickly, and I added the meat and inserted the thermometer probe. I also threw on a slab of pork spares– next to the brisket on the top grate– and two butterflied four pound chickens on the middle grate . Over the next several hours, the temperatures hung rock-solid at 240�.

The meat temp rose slowly, but, suddenly, the remote thermometer reading jumped up 30� in a matter of seconds. I tested with an instant read, and found the remote to be in error. I turned off the remote, and then turned it back on, hoping it was just momentarily confused. It seemed to return to normal. Later, it did it again, so I just removed it, and decided to spot check with the instant read from time to time, when I turned and basted. Later I tried the remote again, this time to read cooker temperature, and it misbehaved similarly.

At some point, around 3-1/2 hours, I checked the chickens, which were done, and removed them to a warm oven to await dinner. At the 5-1/2 hour mark, I removed the ribs, sauced and foiled them, and placed them the oven along with the chickens. I later pulled the brisket flat when it reached 180� internal, and let it rest before slicing.

The ribs were very tender and tasty, but the brisket was the star– fork tender, juicy,and flavorful. I’ll try a whole one next time.

I looked at 3 groceries trying to find a nice boneless pork loin roast to do, with no success. So I settled on a pork loin end roast. Not my favorite– it has that weird bone– but I wanted to try brining it.

The day is partly cloudy, 65�, with a light breeze. The night before, I brined the 4.6 pound roast in a solution seasoned with crab boil, like I did the last turkey.

At 11:25am, I lit a Weber chimney-full of leftover charcoal, which took about 20 minutes to get going. At 11:45am, I poured the lit charcoal into the charcoal ring and added another Weber chimney-full of fresh unlit briquets. When they got going, in about another 15 minutes, I assembled the Bullet, putting the foil-covered water pan in place– adding a gallon of cool tap water– and leaving out the middle cooking grate. With the bottom vents each open one third, the temperature rose to 425�. I closed the vents down to 30/0/0% to bring the cooker down to my target cooking temperature of 225-250�.

At 12:30pm, the cooker had dropped to 325�, and I placed the roast on the top rack, along with a rack of pork spare ribs in a rib rack. Fifteen minutes later– when I noticed no smoke coming from the Bullet– I placed 2 chunks hickory wood and one of oak on top of the coals.

Over the course of the five and a half hour cook, temperatures were reasonably manageable, and stayed in the 225-250° range. I basted the roast at the 3-hour mark, and also turned the ribs. Around 4:00pm, I added some hot water to replenish the pan.

Around 5:00pm, I again turned and basted. The roast read 156� internal– my target being 161. I decided to leave the ribs on at this point, even though, on previous cooks, I had usually only cooked them a total of 4-1/2 hours. This proved to be a good decision, as the extra time rendered out quite a bit more fat, and the ribs were not the least bit greasy. fifteen minutes before I removed them, I glazed them liberally with my homemade sauce.

What have we learned? Let them ribs cook!

Next time, Rib Half Pork Loin Roast.