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1st ever Vortexing

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  • 1st ever Vortexing

    The moon, sun and stars finally aligned so that I was able to try out the vortex I picked up from Rich almost a year ago. Girlfriend was on board with experimenting and was a great help. I decided leg quarters would be a decent starting point. And cheap if things didn’t turn out.
    Stacked the deck in my favor by brining said leg quarters in MH Poultry Brine in the morning, they were later dried and liberally coated with MH Sweet Heat.
    Started the afternoon prep with a cold beer, first of many rest assured. Made up a batch of cilantro heavy salsa to assist in beer consumption staying within acceptable levels.
    First order of business was prepping the sides. Girlfriend made asparagus wrapped in phillo dough and bacon while I cored some jalapeños, stuffed them with smoked cheese and bacon wrapped them up. These went into a curved jalapeño tray I had made up probably 2 years ago. A bit concerned the rows wouldn’t cook evenly since the tray was something I hadn’t used before. A lot of firsts this day.
    First time using a chimney to start charcoal and that alone was pretty awesome, when the chimney started glowing, I was hooked. I only filled it 3/4 full which wasn’t enough but it all worked out.
    Got the vortex filled with coals and loaded up the grill. Grate temp peaked around 440*. Thinking this was probably a bit hot, I closed up the top and bottom vents a bit. Every ten minutes I rotated the lid. After 20 minutes I flipped the protein. Charcoal was down pretty low and after putting the lid back and watching the grate temp not recover much I pulled the lid, lifted the grate and had the girlfriend add the rest of the bag. Coals got going and lid went back on. I had inserted a probe into one piece and by that probe, the IT was where it needed to be. Pulled the lid and probed a few pieces and their IT was only in the 140-150 range. Lid went back on for a few. Probed again and the IT was consistently in the 170 range so the grill was cleared. Temp was probably higher than it needed to be but I’m ok with that as the MH brine was my insurance policy against drying out and it turned out fantastic. Covered in foil and rested while the asparagus got to an acceptable level of crispness. Overall, everything turned out awesome in appearance, taste, juiciness etc. Dessert was a cherry dump cake that put things over the top and the resulting food coma was top notch.

    I would love to hear some tips on how to best manage temps with the vortex. Haven’t decided what gets vortexed next but the plotting has already began.

    As always, thanks for reading and all the advice.

    Scott



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  • #2
    Ootstanding!
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    • #3
      Looking good! Your heat...as is with most any organic material fueled cooker- is controlled with incoming air. Realistically, yer prolly not gonna get much lower than 350 or so with the V cooking like that. But as you noted..it’s fairly even. Just gotta watch the food. And get on the temps early if you can. That too little charcoal was possibly enough, if the air had been throttled back some.

      It’s a process and you got a great start!
      In God I trust- All others pay cash...
      Check out the Mad Hunky and products at https://madhunkymeats.com or https://www.facebook.com/MadHunkyMeats
      Lang 60D, The Beast, 18 and 22 WSM, Brinkmann Backroads trailer, Weber 22 Kettle, gutted MB burning watts

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      • #4
        Great start for sure!! everything looks wonderful.... I have never had temps below 500*.... I run it wide open though.... do some wings!!
        Brian

        Certified Sausage & Pepper Head
        Yoder YS640
        Weber Genesis
        Weber 18.5" Kettle
        Weber Performer
        Misfit # 1899

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        • #5
          Food looks really really good....No idea on my temp. When I start cooking I always throttle back some....
          sigpic
          GMG Daniel Boone
          UDS
          Weber 22.5" Kettle (blk)
          Vision Kamado grill
          Weber Genesis Silver
          Smokin Tex
          MES 40 with legs Gen 2.5
          Maverick ET 732
          Brown and lime green ThermaPens
          2 orange ThermoPops
          A-Maze-N Tube 18"
          A-Maze-N Smoker 5"x8"
          Vortex

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          • #6
            Top vent wide open, bottom vents control the heat. Food looks great!


            Drinks well with others



            ~ P4 ~

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