Originally posted: 09/01/2002
Last updated: 07/05/2009

Sausage "Fattie"

A sausage "fattie" is nothing more than a 12-16 ounce roll of breakfast sausage cooked whole in the WSM.

I use Jimmy Dean maple-flavored sausage because I like the sweetness, but any favorite brand and variety of sausage roll will work—mild, hot, maple, whatever.

Carefully remove the packaging, keeping the sausage roll in its original shape. Use your hands to smooth the ends and any rough areas.

Cook in the WSM at 225-250° for 3-4 hours, or 300-350° for 1-1/2 to 2 hours. There's no need to turn or baste the sausage.

Variations include rolling the sausage in a favorite rub or wrapping it with bacon before cooking.

Hot Dogs

Bryan S. from Lancaster, PA says that grilled hot dogs are OK, but dogs smoked in the WSM are the best. While cooking other meats, just put a few hot dogs on the grate and leave them in for 1 hour. "You never turn them," says Brian, "just let them sit in there and sweat. They plump up and get a nice dark brown, smoky flavor and are just perfect."

Spam

Comedian Jeff Foxworthy says, "You might be a redneck if you've ever barbecued Spam on the grill." Well, I don't know about that, but it is an old favorite in barbecue circles.

While barbecuing other meats, just lay a hunk of Spam in the cooker and let it enjoy the heat and smoke for about 2 hours. Tastes just like Spam, but with a nice smokiness that's really good. You can apply your favorite rub before smoking, if you like.

Smoked Bologna

OK, let me warn you right now—this one is not for the faint of heart!

You'll need the following items:

• A 2-4 pound wheel of bologna
• A length of 3/4" PVC pipe
• A length of 3/4" wooden dowel
• Barbecue sauce
• Barbecue rub
• A large number of bologna lovers

Make a hole all the way through the side of the bologna using the PVC pipe. Remove the cored meat from the pipe using the wooden dowel. Make a second core 90° to the first one. The result is a "X" passing through the middle of the bologna, as shown in this picture.

Cut 4 plugs from the cored bologna and plug three of the holes. Fill the inside of the bologna with barbecue sauce and plug the last hole. Apply rub to the bologna and smoke at least 4 hours while cooking other barbecue meats.

Thanks to Kevin Taylor for providing this method and the photo.

Canned Ham

George Howard from Alexandria, VA says that those little 1-pound canned hams that come in holiday gift baskets are pretty tasty when smoked on the Weber Bullet.

George writes, "When my wife and I recently combined households, I discovered that we had an assortment of those weird canned hams, which make excellent doorstops, but are not too desirable as food. Since I was cooking some ribs anyway, I stuck one of the small canned hams (minus the can) on the bottom grate. After the ribs were done, I let the ham go for another hour or so. Well, it still tasted mostly like a canned ham, but was much leaner, and had a terrific smoky flavor. It actually made a pretty tasty sandwich."

Smoke bologna photo: 2002 by Kevin Taylor