barfridge
Small fridge, powerful thirst
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After reading about the fabled american dish of beer can chicken on the interweb, I decided to have a crack at it.
Ingredients:
- 1 chook (I went all hippie and used a free range one)
- erbs and spices for seasonings
- honey and soy sauce for glaze
- vegies for roasting
- 1 can beer
Method:
1) Seasoning rub on outside of chook
for this I used salt, pepper, sugar, paprika, italian herbs, cayenne pepper and onion flakes. Basicly whatever is available. Mix in a large bowl, then throw the chicken on top, and rub mixture into the skin. For mine I went slightly overboard on the sugar, so it was a little too sweet.
At this stage the chicken should look like this:
(Note: the colouring is due to the paprika and cayenne, its a completely raw chook)
2) Performing colorectal surgery
Open the can of beer (i used a very average brew, but its all I had in a can). Pour off about a third of the can, and save to use in the glaze later on. Add any seasonings you like to the beer, I used a little minced garlic. Now for the fun part...carefully open the bumhole of the chicken, and slide in the can. Place upright in the centre of your baking tray. Its also a good idea to tie the wings to the sides of the chook, to stop them drooping as it cooks, and collapsing on itself.
3) Vegies
Slice and dice your favourite vegies, I used spud, carrot and onion. Sprinkle with italian herbs, and oil liberally. The oil aids in cooking them through, and makes the outsides nice and crispy.
At this stage you're ready to cook, and it should look like this:
4) Cooking
Heat: 180 C
Time: approx 90 minutes.
I did mine on the BBQ under the roasting hood, but an oven will suffice.
5) Glaze
After about an hour its time to turn the vegies, and time to glaze the chook. This aids in making the outside skin crispy, and stops moisture loss from occurring. I used the 1/3 can of beer I saved earlier, along with honey and soy sauce to taste. Pour over chook with a spoon, dont use a brush as you dont want to remove the rub you applied at the beginning.
6) The final product
bon appetit!
Tasting notes:
- The rub I used, plus the honey in the glaze made the outside skin a little too sweet. Next time I'd use less sugar, more salt which would bring out the flavours of the glaze more I think.
- The upper half of the bird was perfect! I dont think I've ever had chicken that was more moist and tender. And there was no greasiness at all. However, due to the steaming process from the beer can, the top cooked more quickly than the bottom, so the drumsticks were slightly underdone, and had to be cooked for a further 10-15 minutes.
- Only a small amount of the beer in the can boiled off, so my thought is to punch a couple of holes in the can about halfway up its sides, to release steam into the lower portion of the chook.
Overall rating: 8.5/10. It would be 9.5 if not for my mistakes with the seasonings, and the differences in cooking times for various parts of the bird.
Ingredients:
- 1 chook (I went all hippie and used a free range one)
- erbs and spices for seasonings
- honey and soy sauce for glaze
- vegies for roasting
- 1 can beer
Method:
1) Seasoning rub on outside of chook
for this I used salt, pepper, sugar, paprika, italian herbs, cayenne pepper and onion flakes. Basicly whatever is available. Mix in a large bowl, then throw the chicken on top, and rub mixture into the skin. For mine I went slightly overboard on the sugar, so it was a little too sweet.
At this stage the chicken should look like this:
(Note: the colouring is due to the paprika and cayenne, its a completely raw chook)
2) Performing colorectal surgery
Open the can of beer (i used a very average brew, but its all I had in a can). Pour off about a third of the can, and save to use in the glaze later on. Add any seasonings you like to the beer, I used a little minced garlic. Now for the fun part...carefully open the bumhole of the chicken, and slide in the can. Place upright in the centre of your baking tray. Its also a good idea to tie the wings to the sides of the chook, to stop them drooping as it cooks, and collapsing on itself.
3) Vegies
Slice and dice your favourite vegies, I used spud, carrot and onion. Sprinkle with italian herbs, and oil liberally. The oil aids in cooking them through, and makes the outsides nice and crispy.
At this stage you're ready to cook, and it should look like this:
4) Cooking
Heat: 180 C
Time: approx 90 minutes.
I did mine on the BBQ under the roasting hood, but an oven will suffice.
5) Glaze
After about an hour its time to turn the vegies, and time to glaze the chook. This aids in making the outside skin crispy, and stops moisture loss from occurring. I used the 1/3 can of beer I saved earlier, along with honey and soy sauce to taste. Pour over chook with a spoon, dont use a brush as you dont want to remove the rub you applied at the beginning.
6) The final product
bon appetit!
Tasting notes:
- The rub I used, plus the honey in the glaze made the outside skin a little too sweet. Next time I'd use less sugar, more salt which would bring out the flavours of the glaze more I think.
- The upper half of the bird was perfect! I dont think I've ever had chicken that was more moist and tender. And there was no greasiness at all. However, due to the steaming process from the beer can, the top cooked more quickly than the bottom, so the drumsticks were slightly underdone, and had to be cooked for a further 10-15 minutes.
- Only a small amount of the beer in the can boiled off, so my thought is to punch a couple of holes in the can about halfway up its sides, to release steam into the lower portion of the chook.
Overall rating: 8.5/10. It would be 9.5 if not for my mistakes with the seasonings, and the differences in cooking times for various parts of the bird.
