There is an adventure in grilling I always wanted to try. Ironically, or not so, until recently I did not own a grill nor could I even start a lump of charcoal on fire. However, as fate would have it, this past July 3rd I purchased a grill on sale thanks to our national holiday featuring explosions and firey meat cooking and was gifted a book on grilling by my loving step-father on a visit to Minnesota.
On top of all this good omen fortuitous grilling trajectory, my very good friend, Yama, engaged in a ritual marathon of grilling every weekend of the summer, and now, into the fall – no matter the weather. Well, one fine day this summer we decided it was time to geek out with our grills and just do The Beer Can Chicken recipe featured so luringly in my fine new cookbook.
The Beer Can Chicken, it turns out, is not so difficult once you figure out how to actually insert the chicken on the beer can. And it tastes really good because the beer keeps the grilling chicken moist and succulent.
What you need:
A garden variety grill and charcol.
Some wood chips soaked in water.
A roasting pan you don't mind wrecking (the disposable variety works).
A can of beer – we chose Rainier to represent some good ole' Seattle action.
Place two holes in the top of the can.
Now ready your chicken as you drink half of the beer. While Yama was manning the fire, I seasoned this chicken with a mixture of salt, garlic powder,cumin and red chili pepper. Give the chicken a good wash – then splash a little lemon juice on the skin and inside. After the chicken's refreshing water and lemon bath, rub the spice mixture into the skin.
After you have prepped the chicken let it sit while you prepare the grill, the wood chips, beer can etc. When the fire is ready (when the charcoal is at least slightly grey everywhere and the wood chips have just been thrown on you are ready to plunk the chicken on the can and onto the grill.)
Yes, I said plunk. This is apparently a very technical term.
A direct quote from the Weber Cookbook.
So now plunk your chicken down over the can of beer after you have drank or emptied nearly half the can.
Give it a good push.
Now stick its little wings up and you are ready to place it on the grill.
We conducted this experiment on Yama's backyard grill because his patio is better than mine.
After roughly 90 minutes of grillin' you have a Beer Can Chicken to enjoy.
Here it is at its final stage.
And carved for our tasting enjoyment.
Yum.
If you were curious – here is what the beer can looks like post-chicken.
It was a good day to grill a chicken.