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

[Jon]

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.

What I have been doing is to fill the Vortex to the desired level of charcoal, then put on half of a mini chimney of lit coals. Maybe eight coals or so along with a chunk of wood for smoke. When the temp starts to climb I take off the lid and the rest get going in a hurry for the hot part of the cook.