I got home late from work and was tired and lazy, so I took a cowardly way out and smoked some boneless chicken breasts. I used a Weber chicken rub and some mesquite chips, and they're delicious. I spent like $4 on chicken and I have lunch for tomorrow too. FTW!
I don't know if chicken breasts were the best thing to use either, at least by themselves. Maybe I should have brined them, they're not dry, but I think they could have been better with a brine. I was thinking about wrapping them in bacon before I got started, figuring some bacon fat would help keep them moist and add a lot of flavor, but again, tired and lazy; I basically threw them on there, put my thermometer in the biggest piece and drank beer until they were done. Start to finish, it took about an hour, hour and a half maybe. The thermometer on my cooker never exceeded um, 250ish degrees I think?
It took a bit more charcoal than I thought to get things going though. It took two full chimneys of Kingsford briquettes to get some good coals going. Again, tired and lazy, so I didn't really try the Minion method of burning/setting up coals. After I got done though, I've still got a hellacious bed of coals in that thing, I'm thinking about rummaging through the freezer to find something else I can throw on there.
I don't have any vents on it either, so I dunno how easy/difficult it's gonna be to control temps when I'm trying to cook something that takes longer.
I'm off all day Tuesday, so I think a pork butt is gonna be the next project, or maybe a brisket.
On a side note, I ate out a lot for work, and it's crazy just how much money I was spending. A pack of boneless chicken breast cost like $4.50 at the local grocer, and I got enough for supper tonight, and for two more lunches. That's good math. I think this thing and some careful spending could save me a lot of money over the long term.