Beer & chicken...what could be better?

Last weekend my good friend JB sent me a link to this video on how to make Beer Can Chicken. She was hoping to make it some time this summer, I am not that patient so I invited her and her husband over on Sunday to make it. I kept talking about the recipe at work all week, because I was really excited, and apparently everyone has heard of this but me.

Essentially, you take a chicken and rub it all over with spices. We used the spice rub mix in the video and AB did the rubbing. You then drink down about a quarter of a can of beer, and insert the can between the chickens…legs (no comment).


Then you place the chicken in a heat proof pan on the grill. This video does it over charcoal, we did it over the gas and it worked fine. The only controversy was how to determine if it was done. I pulled out the good ol' Better Homes & Gardens cook book and it said 180 degrees. We left it on for an hour and half and then took its temperature and it was perfect!


Then came the extraction. We weren’t sure how to maneuver this without either dumping out the beer or getting the oven mitts all dirty. This is definitely a job for four. 2 cooks, 1 cheerleader and 1 photographer.


We carved that birdie up and served it with a fantastic meal of Tzatziki Potato salad (a great low fat alternative,) fresh pepper, tomato and basil salad (a la JB,) and cold peach soup (from my Aunt). It was a wonderful summer meal. Too bad it was 50 degrees outside!