A few weeks have passed since my last cook. We had a tropical storm pass through last weekend, so my attention was more on preservation of property. I am happy to say no damage occured, and the Bullet made it through just fine, lashed to the fence by the patio.

This time, I only did a small cook. I still had a lot left in the freezer from last time, but it was insisted I do some more gourmet sausages, since we were out. Rummaging thru the freezer, I found some boneless chicken thighs, so I defrosted them and gave them a good rub.

I had about a chimney full of leftover coals from the last cook, so at about 1:45pm, I fired it up, adding 15 new briquets to top it off. It took about 45 minutes to get going. I think all new charcoal lights up faster, so there appears to be a trade-off in re-using unburnt charcoal pieces.

I assembled the Bullet, poured in the hot coals, and opened all the vents. Since this was to be a short cook, I only added about 2 quarts of water to the pan. In about 15 minutes the temp was up to 335�F. I shut all the bottom vents and waited for the temperature to drop down to around 260.

At 3:00pm, I arranged everything on the top grate and left the bottom grate out. No sense cleaning what you don’t have to. This time I used one small chunk of peach wood for smoke.

To monitor the temperature, I drilled out a wine cork, tapered it to fit into one of the top vent holes, and placed the Polder probe through it.

At 3:30pm the temp had dipped to 220�F, so I cracked open the bottom vents halfway each. By 3:45pm, the temp appeared to stabilize at 230. The day was 78�, cloudy-bright with little or no wind, which helped maintain stable temps. At 230�F, I expected the sausages to take about 2 hours. And, since the chicken was boneless, it was expected to finish about the same time.

The sausages didn’t need basting or turning, but I did turn and baste the chicken with apple cider vinegar at around 4:15pm, and again around 4:45pm.

At 4:45pm, I checked the sausages and chicken for doneness by inserting the Polder probe directly into the meats. The sausage was at 154, and the chicken measured 160-ish. The cooker temp had dropped to 226, so I gave the coals a little stir, and opened the bottom vents all the way. I wanted the sausages to reach 160, and the chicken needed to hit 180.

At 5:00pm, the cooker was up to 250�, so I set the bottom vents down to a third open each. My observation for this cook was that the Bullet reacted quickly to vent settings given the day’s conditions.

At 5:15pm, I checked for doneness. The sausages had reached 168, so I removed them. The chicken still registered in the 160’s, but I believe the small, thin pieces quickly lost temperature just from opening the cooker. To be sure, I basted and left them on another 30 minutes. I covered the sausages with heavy foil to await suppertime.

The sausages were great, and the chicken ended up being fine and very tasty.

What have we learned? This was a pretty uneventful cook–no real problems. Next time, I’ll use the leftover coals again, but not to start the fire. I’ll add them in small amounts as additional fuel if necessary.

Next time: Boston Butt.