Yes, another "I cooked great wings on a Vortex story..."

[Jon]

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.

[WNC]

Looks great! I'm wanting a vortex now too, how close are the wings to fried?
Oh, if my "Dances With Wolves" memory serves me right, totanka means buffalo
Right Kicking Bird...?

[weldboy]

I'm hoping my wife gets me one for my birthday ! Looks great

[austin87]

Nice! It's definitely a fun one to play with!

[MikeRocksTheRed]

Nicely done (the write up and the cook)!   If this trend keeps going NOF Wings (no oil fried) might become the offical food of the WKC!

And yes @WNC "Tatonka" was the indian word for Buffalo used in Dances with Wolves.
Tatonka:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrGPW4O_5Cc

[Jon]

Looks great! I'm wanting a vortex now too, how close are the wings to fried?
Oh, if my "Dances With Wolves" memory serves me right, totanka means buffalo
Right Kicking Bird...?

These are not like fried, not being battered or double-dipped. The dredging is a very thin layer. Just good, crispy wings without the oil.

[jcnaz]

Very good write-up. I will be making Vortex wings tonight!

[huntergreen]

why use a vortex and not just cook indirect?  tks

[Jon]

Because to render the skin completely, a very high heat works better. I don't know all the physics of what the Vortex is doing, but is is circulating enough heat over the top of the chicken, and radiating enough heat to the bottom of the chicken that the chicken browns and crisps and turns out really well. It might just be that the Vortex allows you to mound A LOT of charcoal at just the right angle for the pile of charcoal.

The empirical proof for me is that I've tried mounding charcoal on the charcoal grill, and charcoal in the baskets (both the newer style and the old wire type), and the Vortex worked much better. Without any effort. I just bought a medium Vortex, filled it, lit it, and surrounded it with chicken. Easy peasy.

[jcnaz]

I used my medium Vortex for the first time  yesterday to make wings.
I didn't go the flour route, For a baseline I just followed the Vortex Wings recipe that was included in the box (oil and seasoning).







These wings turned out very well, crispy skin and moist meat.

[Jon]

Those look great. I'll have to look at the recipe. I didn't even look at the paperwork that shipped with it. The Vortex went straight from the box to put over a gas assist and filled with charcoal.

[Josh G]

Ok so now I'm officially sold.  I want one!

[THUNDERDOME]

Excellent write-up. The food looks great. You too @jcnaz !

[Texmech]

I received my Vortex (Medium) last week while I was out of town, so needless to say I was looking forward to trying it last weekend. I stewed a little about what size to get. I have a 22" Weber kettle. Finally decided on the medium. Correct choice. I only had a chance to do some burgers because I did a brisket on Sunday. I have to say, I was very please with the searing/finish it gave the burgers.

I will do some wings this weekend. I have always had good results with wings on my gas grill, but never just on the Weber. In fact lately I have been doing a cold smoke on the Weber and then finishing them off on the gas grill. It's just a little bit of a hassle to get both grills going. I can see where this should work on the Vortex. Not sure about cook times, but will more or less follow what the instructions said that came with the unit.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

I received my Vortex (Medium) last week while I was out of town, so needless to say I was looking forward to trying it last weekend. I stewed a little about what size to get. I have a 22" Weber kettle. Finally decided on the medium. Correct choice. I only had a chance to do some burgers because I did a brisket on Sunday. I have to say, I was very please with the searing/finish it gave the burgers.

I will do some wings this weekend. I have always had good results with wings on my gas grill, but never just on the Weber. In fact lately I have been doing a cold smoke on the Weber and then finishing them off on the gas grill. It's just a little bit of a hassle to get both grills going. I can see where this should work on the Vortex. Not sure about cook times, but will more or less follow what the instructions said that came with the unit.

I'd think you could cold smoke with just a few coals in the center of the vortex and some wood for a little while, then pull the wings off, fill the vortex and let it get cranking then throw the wings back on once its nice and hot.  In fact 15-20 minutes smoking at 225-250 would probably do just as good...chicken doesn't need much time to soak up quite a bit of smoke.