Hello all,
Inspired by posts and pics of the Vortex being used to cook wings with crispy skin, I used the charcoal basket I made for my Mini-WSM build in my 22.5 Weber Original Premium to try and get the same effect.
I wrapped the sides of the basket in foil, and lit about half a chimney of KBB. This was a last minute cook, so I didn't do much prep to the wings beyond breaking down into flats and drumettes and adding salt and pepper. Particularly, I didn't take any of the steps out there to get crispier skin: Dry and let sit in open air in fridge, baking powder and soda, pre-steam, etc.
When the coals were ready, I added a single chunk of Apple wood to the cooking grate, set bottom vents to about 50% open, and preheated for 10 min.
Wings going on at 7:22 pm EST:
I made my sauce, which is based on a recipe from Serious Eats. Took a look 45 minutes later:
The skin felt pretty crispy! Not as good as deep fried, but things were looking good. Started checking temps and was seeing a range of 195-202 F. I glazed both sides of the wings with sauce and let them go another 5 min.
Right off the grill:
Sauced and plated:
Overall, they were good, but could have been crispier. While I was eating, the skin became harder and harder to bite through. Next time I'm going to skip the glaze, try using more fuel and either go wide open from the start, or after the first 20 min or so. The dome thermo was sitting around 400 F the whole cook, so probably lower at grate level. I get pretty good results in the oven at 450-500, so that's what I'll try to replicate.
The basket setup was great though. I got a very, very even cook, which has been something I've struggled with on wings.
Inspired by posts and pics of the Vortex being used to cook wings with crispy skin, I used the charcoal basket I made for my Mini-WSM build in my 22.5 Weber Original Premium to try and get the same effect.
I wrapped the sides of the basket in foil, and lit about half a chimney of KBB. This was a last minute cook, so I didn't do much prep to the wings beyond breaking down into flats and drumettes and adding salt and pepper. Particularly, I didn't take any of the steps out there to get crispier skin: Dry and let sit in open air in fridge, baking powder and soda, pre-steam, etc.
When the coals were ready, I added a single chunk of Apple wood to the cooking grate, set bottom vents to about 50% open, and preheated for 10 min.
Wings going on at 7:22 pm EST:
I made my sauce, which is based on a recipe from Serious Eats. Took a look 45 minutes later:
The skin felt pretty crispy! Not as good as deep fried, but things were looking good. Started checking temps and was seeing a range of 195-202 F. I glazed both sides of the wings with sauce and let them go another 5 min.
Right off the grill:
Sauced and plated:
Overall, they were good, but could have been crispier. While I was eating, the skin became harder and harder to bite through. Next time I'm going to skip the glaze, try using more fuel and either go wide open from the start, or after the first 20 min or so. The dome thermo was sitting around 400 F the whole cook, so probably lower at grate level. I get pretty good results in the oven at 450-500, so that's what I'll try to replicate.
The basket setup was great though. I got a very, very even cook, which has been something I've struggled with on wings.
