But that's what I did! I mostly just sat there, drank beer, and read. Well, I sat in my back yard and read this site again. Mostly.
Thursday of last week I ordered a Vortex, because I like crispy skin on chicken, I don't like putting the chicken directly over the coals, and I like gadgets. So based primarily on the postings of
@austin87 , re-inforced lately by
@MikeRocksTheRed I ordered a Vortex from Owens BBQ. The order showed up two days later, I opened the box (eager to cook chicken) and immediately recognized that it was a small. Insert Sad Trombone noise here. The small is for an 18, I don't have any 18s, I ordered a MEDIUM DAMMIT!
Well, no I didn't. My fault.
So I messaged Owens BBQ of my sad dilemma, ordered the right size, and Tonya Owens told me to keep the complimentary Tatonka Dust and Wing Spices included in the box and to send the small back. Great service from Owens BBQ.
So score. At least I got free spices.
Wait a minute...what the hell is Tatonka? Variation on Bedonkadonk? I dunno. I cooked a steak for my wife and I to eat with a salad that night and I put the included Tatonka on the steak. It's really good on steak. The steak I cooked was a Von's choice cut was just ok. It tasted great with the Tatonka. And Tatonka apparently has "Activated Charcoal" as an ingredient, which probably takes a big load off my liver. I'll put it on everything. Seriously, I don't know what the hell Tatonka means, but it is unusual and is a shaker of savory goodness on beef. And this sentence contains the last time I want to type "Tatonka." I almost always mix my own rubs, but I like this one.
So score. Free spices. And the medium Vortex showed up today with another Tatonka shaker and wing spice bag. Score+Score and I cooked wings and drumsticks and brats tonight.
I put the vortex on the SSP, filled it with the charcoal baskets from the SSP and the 26, topped off with Stubbs, flame on. So a mix of KBB, lump, and Stubbs were in there, I don't know proportions. And probably dog hair, considering the house I live in.
I took the included packet of wing spice, mixed it into one half cup of flour and dredged the chicken per
@austin87.
I don't want to give you informative Vortex setup explanation and photos. I think you have seen that. But things got hot. Shakey night time photo:
And that is where that gauge stayed the entire cook. The Vortex is a serious armhair remover. I'm serious, I kept the welding gloves on when setting things up. And during setup my daughter came out back and wanted me to help her catch her rabbit and bring him back inside to his cage. I kept the welding gloves on for that also.
Cooking Instructions: Chicken on, timer for ten minutes, sprouts and bacon on, timer for ten minutes, brats on, take the picture below, sprouts off, timer for ten minutes. And at every period (.) you can insert "Check with Thermapen." Twenty-five minutes would have been the ticket, or to be enterprising enough to use the Maverick. Picture taken at night, because it was night.
At that point (thirty minutes), the chicken was overdone a bit - but hey! Dark meat is forgiving. I didn't think it would cook that fast. Warmed the sprouts a little, the brats were perfect. My plan had been to sear them when done but the grill was so hot they were charred without doing that.
Platter O Meat in the kitchen.
And I'm pretty jazzed how well the Vortex cooked everything. And please, nobody tell me that you can do the same with baskets. I've tried with new style baskets and the older wire baskets - those are not the same thing as this. I'm very happy with the purchase(s), and had fun with it.
Topic: Yes, another "I cooked great wings on a Vortex story..." (Read 5581 times)