Vortex - first cook

[thedonald78]

Seemingly forever, I've been trying to figure out the best way to make traditional chicken wings and have them be nice and crispy without frying them. My most recent technique had been to grill them over charcoal (with a little smoke) and then finish them in an air fryer. That actually works pretty darn well, but the air fryer basket only holds about 16-18 wings (not enough for a party) and if you want multiple flavors, you can't keep them separate and still cook them all at once.

When I started reading about the S n S and the Vortex, I thought maybe I'd give one of those a try. The only kettle I have is the 22-inch Jumbo Joe Premium that Weber was making for Wal-Mart. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the S n S won't work in that kettle, so decide to go for the Vortex Mini. After all, the Vortex was supposedly developed for the purpose of making evenly cooked and crispy wings. The science behind it makes some sense to me so what the heck . . .

Well I finally made my first attempt at cooking wings using the Vortex Saturday night. It was cold (probably 15 degrees out) and I should have started a little sooner, but my other way of cooking wings (charcoal grill then air fryer) works pretty quickly, so I just assumed that this would go pretty quickly as well. Not the case. I the Vortex up with the smaller diameter hole up as directed and filled it with bright orange coals and placed two dozen wings around the perimeter. I rotated the lid 90 degrees every 5 minutes or so to change the draft. After 20 minutes, the wings didn't seem to be cooking very quickly and the 1st quarter was half way done, so I "punted." I put half of the wings in the fryer and the other half in the oven and finished them that way.

I'm far from ready to give up on the Vortex, but it seems to me that the prescribed method for cooking wings won't work in cold weather. Maybe it would have worked eventually, but I find it hard to believe the wings would have been nicely crisped after 45 minutes or more of cooking the way they were. I'll try it again when the temps are warmer. Supposed to get near 50 here later this week, so maybe I'll try again this coming weekend.

If anyone else has experience with the Vortex, please let me know how it works for you. Thanks!

[Henrik]

Hi thedonald78, did you cook with any thermometer probe placed on the grates? The outside temp isn't that relevant, the grill temp is more important. If it is really cold outside it takes longer to get the grill up to temp, but once hot, the cook time is the same. It could be that you use a little more fuel also. It would be interesting to hear how at what temps you were running.

[Breadhead]

thedonald78 ...

I don't have the Vortex. I do have a Weber 26 inch Kettle & SnS and I also have a large BGE.

I've been experiencing with wings lately on both cookers. I've tried cooking at 325 degrees but felt that to be a bit too low. Then I tried 375° and that produced nice crispy skin but the chicken got slightly over done too.

Saturday I had friends and family over for the Cardinals VS Packers game and cooked 65 wings in the 2 cookers. I dicided to cook them at 350° and to judge them not by internal temp but by the crispness of the skin. That cook took 90 minutes to get the look and feel I was after.

Long story short... Use whatever setup you have, a vortex should be fine. Regulate your cooking temp to 350° and count on about 90 minutes of cooking time. Just touch and feel the crispness of the skin and pull them when you get what you want.

I love chicken wings.😁

[smokinfatties]

Breadhead are those shorties the boneless ones from costco? and where are those wings from? They look huge! I get the costco wing packs but they're pretty small!

[Breadhead]

smokinfatties ...

I'm glad you recognized the large wings. That explains why most people on this post claim they cook wings in much less time.🙄 I regret not mentioning the size of my wings in my original post.🙊

I buy my wings at Smart & Final. That retailer's main target market is small and medium size restaurants and then the general public. It's a Costco type retailer that doesn't charge a membership fee. In the flash frozen bag of wings I cooked in those pictures (of extra big wings) there were 65 wings for $10.99... About .17 cents per wing.👌

The boneless Short Ribs were on sale at a local super market chain Von's, owned by Albertsons, and were on sale at .99 cents per pound. I bought 20 pounds and put them in the freezer.😉

I do buy the vast majority of my meat from Costco but... It pays to shop around.😎

[smokinfatties]

thanks Breadhead! i am not far from you so i am familiar with those stores. Boneless short ribs from costco are excellent but i have never grilled or smoked them. i will check smart and final for wings!

[thedonald78]

Interesting. I would never have guessed that it could take 90 minutes to cook chicken wings. I did not monitor the temps in the chamber in this case, but the Vortex was plumb full of coals. If I wanted to add any more fuel, I would have to do so outside the vortex apparatus. Thanks for the thoughts.

[DWCowles]

If you cook them for 90 mins using the Vortex you won't be able to eat them.

[DWCowles]

I used the Vortex all the time to do wings (never in cold weather). I let them go for 15-20 mins then flip them for 10-15 Longer for crispy skin. I will be doing a lot of wings on Super Bowl Sunday I sure it will be cold so maybe I will have to cook them longer. We will see...

[David Parrish]

I've cooked wings at 375 F for 45 to 50 minutes. I go for crispy skin and don't worry too much about the internal temp. Similar to dark meat, wings can handle going well over 165 F and still be tender and juicy.

[DWCowles]

I'm with you David Parrish

[thedonald78]

I guess in general my concern was that the Vortex Mini doesn't hold enough charcoal to provide higher heat when the ambient temps are as cold as they were here on Saturday night. I should have run a probe in and checked what I was getting for temps on the grate, but based on how slowly the wings were cooking, I'd guess it was more like 300 or so. I guess I'd better try it again to find out!

[thedonald78]

Pit Boss - completely unrelated, but I'm guessing you can answer the question . . . why does The Pit send me two (duplicate) notification e-mails every time there is a response in a thread I'm subscribed to? I've tried to find a setting to fix that, but haven't so far . . . thanks!

[David Parrish]

I don't know for sure, but it could be you're getting one email saying a person replied to you, and another email saying they mentioned you.

[DWCowles]

I also don't have the mini

[CurlingDog]

thedonald78 , i've used the med sized vortex in a charbroil 26" kettle and was able to get 24-30 wings/drums around the perimeter without crowding, more if i layer them tight. Ambient air temps were 15-20 deg F during the cook. I started by pre-warming the grill with a half chimney of coals in the vortex (centered on the grill, of course) and cracked the bottom vents open all the way, the top vent most all the way. After the grill was warmed, i threw in a few hickory chucks on the ashed over coals and the another half chimney of red hot coals on top. With an assistant holding the plate, i loaded the wings and drums and covered the setup. Bottom vents still fully open, top vent about 1/2 way. Being that the top vent is pretty centralized on the dome, no rotation of the lid was required. I checked them at about 45 minutes, and after a quick flip they were ready for saucing. Sauced just one side, lid back on for 5-8 minutes and viola! Bobs your uncle!

[The Burn]

I also don't have the Mini, but have the standard that goes in the 22" kettle. 60 lit coals fills a little more than half of the Vortex and a circle of wings is done in 36 minutes.

[Huskee]

No real what-you-should-do instructions here, just adding to the conversation... I aim for about 340-350 indirect grate temp and the IQF individually quick frozen small wings from a bag typically take about 60 minutes. If you buy wing portions from the foam trays at the supermarket, the bigger ones, you may be looking at 90min at those temps.. I cook mine very well done to get that fat rendered and skin crispy. Like Pit Boss says they're still juicy and tender at well done, due to the high fat of wings. I prefer not to sear mine since I personally don't care for the seared taste on chicken skin. If you can keep your grate temps north of 325, more like 340-375, you can get them done anywhere from 60min to 45min, respectively, in most cases.

Also, you mean the Jumbo Joe is 18"? Correct, there is no 18" Slow 'N Sear for the Jumbo Joe.

[The Burn]

Huskee - no, actually, Walmart has a Jumbo Joe Premium that is 22" and on legs/wheels, but it's not as deep as a kettle

[David Parrish]

And the SnS does not fit into it.

[Huskee]

I hate that they call it the Jumbo Joe still. It should be the Mega Joe.

[Mickeylou5]

My best chicken wings ever came off of my charbroil smoker roaster grill on Christmas Eve this year. The temperatures were pretty mild here in Michigan. I trimmed my whole wings that I got 1/2 off at ALDI and the sprinkled with my favorite rub and into the smoker they went on high to start the pellets smoking for the first 20 minutes and then low for 1 more hour. I cooked about 65 pieces in 1.25 hours. They did not last long at the Chriatmas party. Perfectly crispy and perfectly smoked.

[fuzzydaddy]

That's some mighty fine wings.

[Huskee]

They look excellent. Nice work Mickeylou5!

[David Parrish]

thedonald78 I spoke with Marty Owens of Owens BBQ and he thinks you should have been able to hit your desired temps. He asked you reach out to them at OwensBBQ.com or find them on their Facebook page. They're very nice folks. I'm sure they'll get you going in no time.

[thedonald78]

Thanks, will do!

[David Parrish]

You bet. Please tell them I sent you