The Vortex BBQ is an excellent kettle grill addon for direct cooking, indirect cooking, 2-zone cooking, and smoking. You can also use it for regular searing, reverse searing, or rotisserie. Do you need to Get BBQ Vortex? What if I told you that you can have it all? That’s right--you can have the smoke flavor of the smoker, the crispiness of the deep fryer, and the convenience of using only one item to make them! The BBQ Fuel Dome is primarily designed for a kettle BBQ. To-date I have not tried all the methods above but I have primarily used to cook

Smoking on a Kamado isn’t any lesser pain in the butt than low and slow cooking. Creating a 2-zone fire, however, is a bit easier–you just need to ignite and bank the briquettes off to one side. The Vortex may be overpromising a bit with their 4 techniques, but the Ring of Wings technique alone makes this device a must have. My family has always loved wings, but there weren’t on the menu often because turning out big batches just wasn’t easy enough. With the Vortex, I can cook two days worth of wings in 1.5 hours including prep time and sides. Wings are on the menu every other week now and the Vortex has a semi-permanent home in one of my grills. Is the BBQ Vortex worth it? Yeah, it’s totally worth it. After trimming, I scored them and then patted them dry before sprinkling them with sea salt. I placed them on a plate and put them in the fridge overnight to try to dry them out. While we have discussed only four methods, you can use the Vortex accessory in many ways. You can set the Vortex with the wide side up or down, put charcoal inside or around it, and place food around it on the bottom grate or top grate or directly over it on the top grate. The BBQ Fuel Dome is made from high grade brushed stainless steel. I have had mine for 9 months and much of the time it is exposed to the elements but still looks and works great.I used thighs, which I prefer over breasts, as I think it is easier to cook and not dry out. It is the same when I do kebabs, but on occasion, I will do a mix of thigh and breast. The Pro Smoke BBQ fuel dome is a must-have gadget for your weber kettle smoker. whether you cook low and slow or like to grill direct Once the wings are separated, lay them on a baking sheet and sprinkle some wing seasoning on them. We used the Owens buffalo wing seasoning that came with our vortex but you can use any kind you want (or even our all purpose BBQ rub.) According to many users, Vortex performs better than banking charcoal to one side and cooking the bird on the other side on the bottom grate. The bird in the Vortex cooked more evenly, though it took more time than the one cooked without it. This thing is rugged. The manufacturer takes pride in its USA-made, impurities-free, chemical-free stainless steel construction. You can roll or toss it around, and it won’t show any bents or dents. The weld is also seamless. How do you use it?

This setting is the most efficient, useful way to cook with the Vortex. It provides even, consistent heat to whatever you throw around it. It just outclasses every method and accessory available for a kettle or Kamado grill. I was really impressed by how crispy these were. The coating had taken on some of the smoke, which might not be to everyone’s taste but I really like it. Adding the rub to the flour mix also worked really well. You could definitely taste it but it wasn’t overpowering. The Dome can redirect the flow of heat up and around the meat which turns your kettle into an indirect 'smoker'. BBQ Vortex in action. It looks like a lampshade, eh?.The BBQ Vortex has been gaining tremendous popularity lately. It’s a simple steel cone that promises four unique uses in your grill. It comes in a few different sizes to fit your needs.This method is Volcano style, with the small opening on top. It creates a super high heat zone directly above the Vortex. When I first tested this method, the temps above the BBQ Vortex were only marginally higher than two full Weber baskets. I used a steel plate and an infrared thermometer to compare. Both the Vortex and the baskets brought the steel up into the 800 degree range using Coshell. This was very disappointing at first, but when I ran the test again using Kingsford, the results were very different. The sear zone over the vortex was once again crazy hot, right around 650-700 degrees, while the baskets barely hit 500. The BBQ Vortex DEFINITELY created a super hot sear spot. For regular searing, cook both sides of the steaks over direct heat and then shift them to the sides to let them reach the desired temperature. For reverse searing, flip the tradition on its head–first, let the steaks come to the temperature and then cook them over the Vortex for a nice brown finish and crispy texture. Compare it, for example, to the snake or the minion method. Leaving effort aside, these methods don’t provide heat to every piece. Or compare it to set your fire off to one side of the kettle for 2-zone or indirect cooking. Again, pieces nearby the fire will burn off, and those far off may remain uncooked unless you rotate and flip them often.

The BBQ Vortex is a simple stainless steel cone for the Kettle and Kamado-style grills, such as the Weber Kettle and the Big Green Egg. The manufacturer of VORTEX (IN)DIRECT HEAT promises four uses of the accessory in direct and indirect cooking. However, you can use it in more than just four ways. What’s Weber Vortex for? Using the Indirect-Direct method, the Vortex basically creates a really high funnel of heat that deflects against the BBQ lid and then is channelled down onto your food. You are recommended to rotate the BBQ lid to ensure that the heat distribution is consistent due to the positioning of the vents in the lid. Rotate the Kettle lid every 5-8 minutes.” This is to avoid cold spots because of the offset exhaust damper. If you don’t own a BBQ Vortex, you could cook these using an indirect method for around 45 minutes to 1 hour and then cook directly for a few minutes to crisp them up. Again, cooking indirectly I would recommend adding some wood chunks or wood chips to add a little smokiness.

This method is for high heat searing and reverse-searing. You place the Vortex narrow side up on the bottom grate and add some charcoal to it–there’s no need to fill the Vortex entirely. Replace the top grate and put your steaks directly over the fire.