Tales of turkey-grilling disaster: Sunset readers write in

New barbecue gets christened

A friend had been serving delicious hickory-smoked turkey at his poker parties for years. After having another friend build us a brick barbecue, my wife and I decided we'd try smoking a turkey, our first, just like my poker buddy.

I carefully followed his instructions: grate lowered as far as it would go with the coals stacked to the far side; hickory chips and coals added every so often; close the hood, leave the bird alone, and let it cook for three to four hours.

We headed off to do some shopping. When we returned an hour later, I glanced toward the backyard and saw the barbecue smoking like crazy. I slowly lifted the hood and saw our turkey totally burned to a crisp. And I won't even tell you how long it took us to clean the inside of our new barbecue.

–LOU & CHAR COHAN, CYPRESS, CA