So, for my second cook I thought I'd do some corn. I'd bought some corn and it wasn't the best quality, but I figured I'd see what happened. I grabbed them and some potatoes, covering them in garlic butter and salt & pepper.

As I was doing this, my wife said she had a whole chicken she didn't get around to steaming, so she was going to throw it out. I said hell no, I'm smoking that chook. I didn't really know what to do with it, so I just gave it the same garlic butter treatment as the corn and sliced up a lemon and wrapped it in alfoil.

Going by the wireless temperature monitor, it said 83°C was the optimal temperature for Chicken. The BBQ iPhone app I was using called my BBQ timer, said I needed to do 160-170°C for 1 hour. I got the Smokey Joe up to around 105°C-108°C and ended up cooking the bird for 2 hours.

I took the corn and potatoes off after about an hour and they were the juiciest corn and fluffiest potatoes I've ever tasted, with the extra smokey flavour profile. Success.

After 1 hour, I also flipped the chook. At the 2 hour mark, I asked my wife to check it out, as she is the resident Chicken expert in our household. She said, "You've shredded it !" Yeah but do you reckon it's cooked and she was like absolutely, it's all just going to fall off the bone. We'll have that for dinner.

Boy this chicken tasted goooooood. So, juicy and moist and it was indeed shredded. I was on a bit of an endorphin high for the next hour or so. I successfully smoked a whole chicken and it was awesome. Can't wait for cook number 3 now.

This year Australia was being hosted at our house. There was the threat of rain, so as we have a big undercover deck, it was a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, I lost my man card a few years back when my 6 burner BBQ fell apart due to rust and was reduced to using one of those camper butane portable gas cookers. They aren't that bad to use and I have a twin one.

I proceeded to cook up a butt load of meat from steaks, to burgers, to sausages and kevaps. It took awhile (my wife wasn't impressed, but the guests seemed okay with it).

Anyway, it turned out to be a super sunny and hot day and I had prepped the Smokey Joe to cook up my JCBs (Jalapeño, Cheese and Bacon) also known as Jalapeño Poppers or Atomic Buffalo Turds in the good ole USA.

As it was my first cook with the Smokey Joe and a Charcoal BBQ for that matter, I stuffed up the initial setup. By this I mean, I had watched a video saying the heat beads can be reused, so as my dad had given me a BBQ with a layer of beads with a little bit of ash on them, I decided to use those.

I used the Chimney starter to get the BBQ going and then about 20 minutes later, the temp dropped dramatically (using the wireless temperature probe in a potato). All the beads had ashed away, so I had to start again. I took the JCBs off the grill and when the BBQ was ready again I put them on.

Now the combination of drinks and sore feet from having been at the other BBQ grilling away, I sort of neglected the JCBs, to the point where they got burnt on the bottom.

Still, I learnt a bit from that cook and how to handle the BBQ including pre and post cleaning.