About

By Bill Bulloch — backyard griller, Roswell, Georgia

I am Bill Bulloch, and I grill in my backyard in Roswell, Georgia. My cooker of choice is a Big Green Egg, a ceramic kamado grill that holds heat the way a brick oven does — steady, efficient, and forgiving once you learn how it breathes. I cook on it all year, for family dinners, weekend cooks, and any excuse to be outside with a fire going.

My other specialty is smoked sausage. I describe myself as a smoked sausage sommelier, and the description is earned the slow way: by trying many varieties, keeping them stocked in the freezer, and paying attention to what makes one link worth buying again and another forgettable. Fat content, casing snap, smoke level, seasoning balance, and how a sausage behaves over direct heat versus low smoke — those are the differences I write about, because those are the differences you can taste.

This site exists because grilling advice online is often either too vague to use or too loaded with shopping links to trust. GrillingTips.org is written the other way around: the cooking advice comes first, in plain language, and there are currently no shopping links on the site at all. When a product category is mentioned — a thermometer, a kind of charcoal, a style of glove — the point is to help you choose well, not to steer you toward a particular purchase.

The Sausage Sommelier

"Sausage Sommelier" is my own nickname for myself, and it is a joke that stuck: I taste smoked sausage the way a wine drinker tastes wine — slowly, comparatively, and with opinions. It is not a certification or a professional credential of any kind. There is no exam behind it and no title on the wall. The authority behind it is a freezer full of varieties and a habit of paying attention.

When I judge a link, I judge the same things every time. Appearance first: a taut casing and an even color. Then the snap — a good casing gives a clean bite rather than tearing or going rubbery. Then smoke: real smoke flavor that sits in the meat, not an acrid coating. Then seasoning balance: salt should support the meat and the smoke, not drown them. And finally juiciness: fat is flavor and moisture, and a link that eats dry has failed no matter how good it smells. I try one new variety at a time, cooked the same simple way, so the comparison is fair. Read more about the Sausage Sommelier and how a tasting works.

Editorial standards

• Experience first. Guides describe methods that have actually been cooked, including the mistakes that taught the lesson. If a method is untested here, it is described as something to try, not as a proven result.
• Temperature over time. Cooking times on this site are always ranges and starting points. A thermometer reading is the decision point. Meat thickness, starting temperature, wind, and grill temperature all change how long a cook takes.
• Manufacturer guidance wins. Always follow the safety and operating instructions for your own grill and equipment. This site's advice is general backyard practice and does not replace the manual that came with your cooker.
• Food safety basics. Cook meat to the recommended internal temperature, keep raw and cooked foods separate, and refrigerate leftovers promptly. When in doubt, check current guidance from a public food-safety authority rather than relying on memory or habit.
• No invented claims. This site does not publish statistics, test results, or comparisons it has not actually performed. Product categories are discussed in general terms; no product is presented as something the author owns or endorses unless that is plainly stated.
• Corrections. If something on this site is wrong or outdated, it will be corrected and the correction will be noted where the error appeared.

What this site is not

GrillingTips.org is not a professional cooking school, a food-safety authority, or a retailer. It is one experienced home griller sharing what works in his own backyard. Take what helps, adapt it to your grill and your climate, and trust your thermometer more than any single article — including these.

Contact: bill@grillingtips.org