Had some folks lay over for the weekend on their way back to Austin and the wife wanted me to cook some chicken (her marinade) along with her cooking some Filipino dishes. She got a dozen leg quarters and about two dozen drums from the store and marinaded them over night in her Inosol marinade (soy, lemon juice, 7UP, lemon grass, salt and pepper). I took them out in the morning and put the pieces on two racks to dry in the fridg. Here is the first batch, the leg quarters. I hit them up with Oak Ridge Secret Weapon seasoning.....
....fired up my Vortex in my 22" Weber kettle with a full load of charcoal and let it get up to temp with vents wide open. Was reading in the high 490s on my grate probe when I put the chicken on, screaming hot. After about a half hour they were looking really good. The Vortex was doing a great job but consuming briquettes like mad so had to keep feeding the flame. Gave them a flip and cooked them for another half hour .......
...probed with my Thermopen at 175* so pulled them and let them rest while I went on to batch #2....
Batch number two were the drums. Same marinade and same seasoning, ready to go on the grill......
.....Vortex began to cool somewhat, probably down to about 425* for this cook. Also tried something I hadn't done before, I added a good size chuck of mesquite wood which did smolder for about 15 minutes and gave me some nice smoke for this batch. Flavor came through just right.....
....the results were the same, with the smaller pieces getting done in about 50 minutes total......
All in all I really like the way the Vortex does chicken. Golden brown, nice crispy bite through skin, tender and juicy inside. Can't ask for more than that. After years of cooking chicken 325-350*, getting it up over 400* (if you can) is really the way to go. As you can see above I had no significant burning and the result was outstanding. If you have a kettle you need to buy this little $30 accessory, it really works well for me.
TROUTMAN STEVE SIGNING OUT !!!!!
....fired up my Vortex in my 22" Weber kettle with a full load of charcoal and let it get up to temp with vents wide open. Was reading in the high 490s on my grate probe when I put the chicken on, screaming hot. After about a half hour they were looking really good. The Vortex was doing a great job but consuming briquettes like mad so had to keep feeding the flame. Gave them a flip and cooked them for another half hour .......
...probed with my Thermopen at 175* so pulled them and let them rest while I went on to batch #2....
Batch number two were the drums. Same marinade and same seasoning, ready to go on the grill......
.....Vortex began to cool somewhat, probably down to about 425* for this cook. Also tried something I hadn't done before, I added a good size chuck of mesquite wood which did smolder for about 15 minutes and gave me some nice smoke for this batch. Flavor came through just right.....
....the results were the same, with the smaller pieces getting done in about 50 minutes total......
All in all I really like the way the Vortex does chicken. Golden brown, nice crispy bite through skin, tender and juicy inside. Can't ask for more than that. After years of cooking chicken 325-350*, getting it up over 400* (if you can) is really the way to go. As you can see above I had no significant burning and the result was outstanding. If you have a kettle you need to buy this little $30 accessory, it really works well for me.
TROUTMAN STEVE SIGNING OUT !!!!!
