Beer Can Chicken

This is a relatively simple meal and it always turns out well! Even if they catch on fire like above!

You will need:

a whole chicken

a can of beer

your favorite seasonings

Start by cleaning the inside of the chicken, make sure there is nothing in there that you don't want. Rinse the inside out and pat dry with some paper towel.

Open the beer can and drink some of it. You only want the can to be about 1/3 full of beer. For beer I just use what ever is in the fridge but the beer can adjust the flavour of your chicken or blend well with your seasonings. For example if you wanted to do an Asian seasoned chicken and use ginger and pepper, you would probably want a light tasting beer that won't conflict with those flavours. If you wanted to do something strong and smokey with hickory, you might want a maple or honey beer.

Take your seasonings of choice and stuff about 3 tablespoons worth in the can of beer. You could also put handfuls of fresh herbs, garlic cloves, onions, oranges etc etc in the can. What happens is once the chicken starts to cook the beer will boil and baste the inside of the chicken. So whatever is in the can will boil in the beer and the flavours will leak into the chicken.

After you have seasoned your beer can you want to season the outside of the chicken with the same seasonings. Once this is done you are going to put the beer can in the chicken. You want to place the can upright with the chicken upright on top of that. It will look like the chicken is standing up. Place the chicken on a hot BBQ (about 400) for about 40 minutes. Or until the outside is crispy looking. (not flaming like above!) A good test for a chicken is when you lay it down you should be able to pull a leg away from the body easily, this is when you know it is done.

Once you take the chicken on the BBQ you need to remove the beer can before you lay it down. You will usually require two people for this. I usually use a fork to puncture the can and pull it out while someone else use tongs to hold onto the chicken.

You want to let the chicken sit for about 10 minutes before you carve it.

In the summer my favorite add ons to Beer Can Chicken are a large mango and tomato salsa and BBQ'd potatoes. In the winter it is great with squash, mashed potatoes and other seasonal vegetables and gravy if you have time!