How To Use The Vortex Charcoal Grilling Accessory

recently I've had a number of questions about the vortex that I use with my weber kettle what it is what it's used for and how I use it so today I'm going to show you how I use the vortex [Music] if you've never seen the vortex before this is the vortex it's a cone of Steel I purchased it about a year ago I can't remember specifically where but what I've found is this is one of the most versatile accessories for the Weber Kettle that I've seen let me show you the different ways that it can be used so with the cooking grate momentarily removed let me show you the first way that I saw this used and that was in this configuration the idea behind the vortex here is you fill it with charcoal and what happens is it creates a concentrated cone of heat that comes directly up now the way that I saw this first used was doing chicken legs or chicken wings with the cooking grate on here the heat coming directly up chicken all around it on the cooking grate so you have the cooking grate on and with the kettle dome on there's a convection effect which happens the heat comes up hits the dome goes down goes back through the chicken when it's arrayed around here on the cooking grate cooks quickly the skin gets crisp it's just cooked beautifully so this was the first way that I saw the vortex used online and I thought I want that but what I didn't realize is that I'd be using it for so much more than just this let me show you those other ways that I use it this way you had a concentrated column of heat coming directly up with the cooking grate on you can put a cast iron pan over this and get that blazing hot and sear food in that like you have it over an extremely hot burner you can also sear food directly on the cooking grate over this configuration of the vortex you can sear steaks chicken anything you want like that and after you sear it there move it outside here put the lid on and now you're cooking indirect at very high heat but one of my favorite configurations to use the vortex in is not this it's this so what you have here is the vortex inverted so that the wider end is facing up it also talks perfectly up against the side of the kettle what you can do here is fill this with charcoal the same way you would when it's in more of the cone shape you can fill it halfway up all the way up and you create a larger cooking area here you can cook food directly over the grate here in this larger cooking area larger pieces of meat tri-tips things like that and then move it in direct same thing put the kettle lid on and now you're cooking indirect after an extremely hot sear the other reason I like using it in this configuration is if I need to with a flip up grill I can add charcoal directly to the vortex in this way it functions similarly to the charcoal briquette baskets that Weber sells and I have some of those or too you know like the slow and sear keep it one side for searing the other side for slow cooking but you get a larger area this reaches out across half of the kettle surface right here and it works really well for large cast iron pans I will do this and put my 12-inch cast-iron skillet over this get amazing results with that pan heating up to 600 plus degrees one of the more interesting configurations for the vortex is this I've used the vortex to cook Beer Can Chicken using an accessory like this you can use any sort of beer can chicken holding accessory here what this does you put the chicken on you fill the outer area of the kettle with coals and it gets extremely hot the vortex heats up and radiates that heat in there and it crisps the chicken up incredibly well Sears it cooks it seals in that flavor just gives you an amazing chicken one of the things I realized about the vortex after having it for a while is that it gives you the ability to really control the heat coming out of it just by the amount of charcoal now that may seem very intuitive the same thing applies to the kettle as a whole but when you're putting that charcoal in this confined space especially in this configuration where you're creating that column of heat coming up out of here if you fill this a third of the way up you're gonna get one level of heat two-thirds way up another level of heat all the way up an extremely screamin amount of heat but even that 1/3 filled is going to give you an extremely hot fire coming up out of here and if you're using it in this configuration to cook things like chicken wings chicken legs around it with the cooking grate on top you're gonna get high heat for less charcoal because this concentrates it and at the same time as its concentrating it coming up it's radiating it out from these steel edges so you're not just getting the heat from it coming up hitting the kettle dome going back down you're getting that heat coming off the steel going under the chicken pieces or whatever it is you're cooking around here I've seared ribeye steaks over this and then move them to the indirect part on the cooking grate I've cooked chicken directly over burgers directly over it it's really an awesome versatile accessory for creating those zones of cooking it doesn't just stay in one place you can move it around wherever you want multiple configurations and the center off to the side it really has been one of the most useful accessories for my Weber Kettle that I've had now I've also seen people use these vortex accessories and things like the Weber Smokey Mountain other charcoal grills it's not specific to the Weber Kettle I just find that it really shines when you're using it with this cooker as I said I've been using it for just over a year now and I find that I probably use it once or twice a week when I'm cooking on the kettle it's just that versatile to allow you to do both direct and indirect in many configurations not just in one configuration where all the charcoals against the side of the kettle you can put in the center off to the side a little bit off to the side with the wide part of the cone facing up the narrow part of the cone facing up using it to create a radiant zone of high heat around a Beer Can Chicken setup in the kettle honestly I don't think I've figured out all the ways that I can use this yet I think when I got this I paid $40 somewhere around there for it I know they make different sizes this was for specifically the 22 inch kettle so if you have a smaller one you might want to look for one that's a little bit smaller I don't know if they make a larger one but really honestly if you're looking for an accessory that's versatile on many levels works in many different ways of cooking this is really an awesome piece of equipment and as you can see by how dirty it is I use it all the time hope you enjoyed this video feel free to check out some of the other videos on my channel and consider subscribing and if you do click that belt for notifications thank you all for watching hope you have a great day I'm gonna grill something now I'll see you again soon

Channel: Cooking With Ry

Views: 207,815

Keywords: cooking, cooking channel, cooking with ry, ryne pearson, ryne douglas pearson, grilling, bbq, barbecue, vortex, charcoal grill

Id: QwA3LQmxSok

Length: 7min 16sec (436 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 31 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/UnlubricatedUnicorn]

I would like to tell you that i sell propane and propane accessories.

[u/clarkstud]

$40? Seems a little steep for what it is... But I'm definitely intrigued.

[u/EddyGurge]

I enjoy his vids.

[u/Chaddcl0ps]

I love my Vortex

[u/CurrySoSpicy]

Ry is such an underrated channel. He is an awesome guy with great content. Couldn’t recommend watching his stuff enough.

[u/Bigedmond]

I have had one a few years. Makes for some fantastic wings. Add a chunk of wood on the grate above the cone, and you get a great smokey flavor.

[u/rclipc]

Even after cleaning my Weber kettle it's not as clean as his.

[u/hogjowl]

I cannot recommend the Vortex highly enough. See here for wings I did last month. They're seriously foolproof on the Vortex.