Smoking Cheese w/ homemade cold smoke generator

Peach BBQ Sauce - Yummy!

Ingredients:

2 cups peach puree, we used 5 large peaches

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce.

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

Peel the peaches and puree in a blender until mostly smooth.

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and use immediately or let cool and store in the refrigerator until needed. Enjoy!

Review - The Vortex (Kettle grill accessory)

Back in July I picked up my first Weber Kettle grill. While I was researching which grill to buy, I found several accessories I really wanted to try. The one that really caught my eye was the Vortex ring.

The Vortex is a grilling accessory designed to work with Kettle style grills. It's made from 20 gauge 304 grade stainless steel. I guess that's important to people who really know about different grades and gauges of stainless steel, but for the rest of us I'll just say it's quite a solid, sturdy, piece.
My man Alton Brown always taught us to shy away from "uni-taskers" and look for tools that can "multi-task". Well. the Vortex is certainly in the Multi-tasking department.

I've had my Vortex for just about 6 months now and I have to say I'm impressed.  For me, the primary use is chicken wings! We LOVE chicken wings, but lets face it, frying wings is a pain in the butt and right up there on my Doctors list of "Things Rick should avoid.". So what is a guy to do to get crispy wings without dropping them in hot oil?  Enter - The Vortex!

Feelin' HOT HOT HOT!!

Using the Vortex on my 22" in Weber Kettle grill, I am able to produce essentially a convection oven easily reaching temps of over 500-600 F degrees. Screaming hot! The shape of the vortex reminds you of a volcano, so imagine the heat from the charcoal blasting out the top, like lava. Once the heat hits the domed lid it cascades down to the grill surface producing a very hot, very even cooking environment.  That high heat allows the chicken wings to basically "air fry" in their own skin. The results...well, a picture speaks a thousand words so here you go..

I'd say, based on the results we've had so far that the Vortex is worth the $40.00 we spent just because of the exceptional wings alone, but this thing does much more than that!!

The white powder is Corn starch. It helps to crisp things up and create a bit of crust.

Air Fried Potato Wedges w/ the Vortex

KFC! Kettle Fried Chicken

Flipping the Vortex over, so the wide side is up, and filling it with hot coals will allow you to create a high heat searing area for steaks, chops or anything you want to sear super hot and fast.


Leaving the Vortex wide side up and spreading your coals around the outside will create an sort of infra-red heat zone. This works especially well for things like beer can chicken.

Leaving it wide side up will also allow you to easily create a charcoal snake around the outside for true "low and slow" gentle cook. We've wrapped a 2 over 2 charcoal snake 3/4 way around the kettle and smoked pork butts @ 225-240F for 8-10 hours easily.


I'll admit, me and a whole lot of other grilling enthusiasts like the Vortex mainly for the chicken wings, but truth be told, this little steel ring has become one of the main tools in my grilling arsenal.

I imagine the Vortex can be found a a number of different places, but i'm recommending Owens BBQ. Not only do they sell the authentic Vortex unit, but they also have a bunch of grilling products available as well. I have only tried their Buffalo Wing rub so far (BTW- they include a big shaker full with each Vortex order!), but since July I've gone through 3 shakers and will probably be ordering more come spring! I'll do a review of that rub next - it's excellent!


If you're a kettle grill fan (or any charcoal grill really, it'll work!) I definitely recommend giving the Vortex a try.  If I had an extra hand, I'd give it THREE thumbs up!

Review - The 22-inch Weber Kettle Grill

I don't know if a marketing guru has already come up with this, but if not, the Weber kettle grill should be called the Swiss Army knife of the barbecue World. I've used hibachi, gas grills, Offset smokers, ugly drum smokers and a variety of other outdoor cooking equipment but in all my years I've never had the opportunity to try an authentic Weber Kettle grill (I know, right? Have I been living under a rock?). Since me and the missus recently downsized our living arraignments, I had the bite the bullet and unload most of my outdoor cooking equipment. It was a sad day, but I do believe I may have discovered a suitable replacement. 

Chicken Pot Pie on the Weber Grill

 I like to smoke meat a lot, but I also like to grill and just generally cook outdoors. In a 3-bedroom home w/ a couple of acres for a back yard, it's easy to have a little arsenal of BBQ cooking weaponry to choose from. In a 2-bedroom apartment complex, not so much. I needed the most versatile cooker I could get. I opted for the classic Weber 22-inch kettle grill. I went with copper color because it was different than the traditional black, but that'd be my 2nd choice, were I to get another one (wink, wink).  

The grill comes packaged quite nice & secure and only has a handful of parts and requires only basic tools to assemble (screwdriver, hammer and the little wrench doohickey that comes with the grill). Me and the missus had it together on the kitchen floor in about 30 minutes. 

KFC=Kettle Fried Chicken! 

                           

There’s a couple of things to watch out for. Well, one really. Make sure the legs are set so that the front leg is under the grill handle and the two legs with wheels are to the back. I’ve seen a few videos where folks have missed this little detail. It won’t affect your BBQ, but it will certainly make moving the grill around a LOT more complicated!  

Snake Method on the 22-inch Weber Grill

The versatility of the Weber Kettle Grill is amazing. Using the coal baskets together or a Vortex insert you can achieve super-hot temps for searing or direct grilling. Moving the baskets to one side of the kettle allows for a large amount of indirect grilling area on the grate. Heck, I’ve even used the snake method with my charcoal briquettes and smoked pork butts for 8 to 10 hours with ease. A few weeks ago, we added a few fire bricks & a pizza stone to the grill and was able to make fantastic pizzas & calzones at around 600F!  

The Weber Kettle 22-inch kettle grill has damper controls below the kettle and on the lid. I’m still learning the ins and outs of the lid vent, but I am able to control my temperatures pretty easily with just the lower damper. The lower damper also does an excellent job of clearing ash from the kettle into the ash catching bowl mounted below the kettle. A quick squeeze of the ash bowl handle and the ash bowl un-clips from the kettle so you can easily empty ash from the grill.  

Texas Twinkies & Chicken wings on the Weber Kettle w/ the Vortex 

The cooking grate is stainless & high quality. The grate I got has the two wing doors on either side that lift and allow easy access to your heat source without having to remove a hot, loaded grill grate.  The lid fits well and, while it does leak a bit when smoking low & slow, it hasn’t really affected the outcome.  

Sesame Ginger Roasted Chicken on the Weber.

Hopefully someday soon I can get back to a place where I can have my whole arsenal on display again, but for now the Weber 22-inch Kettle Grill has become an outstanding substitute. So much that I don’t even like the term “substitute”.  Whether I get the Pit back together or not, the Weber is now a permanent member of the BBQ team. If you’re considering a grill purchase, I’d highly recommend this unit.  Two thumbs up for the Weber 22-inch Kettle Grill!  

The Vortex from Owens BBQ (more about this little monster later!)