calmex
Member
No, this is no joke, this really works. I was skeptical when I first heard about it myself, but I thought I'd give it a try and does it ever work well. I normally used a rotisserie to cook my chickens on the B.B.Q. and it worked well. However, it took quite a bit of time (so much beer gets consumed) and clean-up is a bit of a pain. Although I was always sure to put a drip-tray under the chicken and tie up the wings and legs so they didn't swing around and bash everything on the inside of the B.B.Q., there just had to be a better way to make tasty rosti-pollos. I heard about the beer-can chicken idea, so I gave it a try. It worked great, although the beer I used (a Corona Light, which I keep on hand in case one of my Northern friends comes for a visit and he drinks that beer religously) didn't exactly make BETTER chicken that rotisserie chicken, although clean-up was a breeze by comparison.
I read on the Internet that you get a tastier chicken if you use a good, frothy dark beer. So, on my next attempt, I ran across the street to the little beer dispensery at the end of the block and took a look at what they had. A lot of beer, no doubt, it's what they sell. But there was nothing in the can that was particularly dark beer as far as I could see. The standard Modelo in the can is like somewhere between dark and light I suppose, but I wanted a frothy, dark beer.
The grouchy old man (at least, he's always grouchy to me, but maybe he doesn't like derned foreigners) finally asked me what I was looking for. "I want a dark beer in a can," I told him. "Something like Indio beer...got anything like that?"
"Have you tried Leon?" He asked me. Leon is a locally produced beer in a tin, and not very expensive. I always figured it had to be poor quality, based on the price and the fact that it's produced locally. "Uh, no." I replied. "Is it any good?"
Showing the first emotion on his face I've ever noticed that wasn't a scowl, he sort of brightened up for a moment and said, "I rather like it." So I bought a six-pack.
Okay, so first, you wash the chicken. At least, down here you do. My wife, fanatic about "eating right", had skinned the bird before I got back from the beer store. What can you do?
The recipe says that you are supposed to open the beer and drink half of it, leaving the can half-full of beer. This was stressed over-and-over (as I stress it here), so I complied. Washing the bird, I took a sip. "Say, this cheap beer is pretty good stuff..."
If you look around the Internet you can actually find "mounts" for a beer-can chicken. A lot of the B.B.Q. accessory companies are now making them. But you can make your own. Here in backwoods Mexico, good luck doing it any other way. You need a drip-tray to catch all the juices that flow down so your B.B.Q. doesn't turn into a Hamburg-style firestorm, and something to mount the bird and beer-can onto so it doesn't fall over on you in the B.B.Q. . I just put a ceramic bowl on the center of a round or square aluminum baking plate, put the half-full can of beer onto the ceramic bowl...
...I have started to lay selected "toys" into the photos to keep the interest of those of you who -- like me -- get bored if I don't see firearms in the photos every now and then when I'm on a firearms forum. The photos are losing quality, and SAY!!! This cheap beer is really good!
....at about this point, my wife insists that I lay out all the ingredients that go into the basting. "You're already drunk!" She says that accusingly. I offer her a mug of the beer. She tells me she doesn't drink beer. I hold out my mug. She takes a sip. "Say," she remarks. "This frothy dark beer is pretty good." She pops a tab on another tin. I lay out the basting ingredients to take this photo of: Olive oil, butter (which you melt in the microwave and mix 50/50 or even 60/40 with the olive oil), salt, pepper, limes of which you squish the juice into the mix, paprika, and rosemary. Rosemary in Spanish is "Romero", and when I pop another dark, frothy beer into my icy mug I ask my wife what the heck Romero is and she says Rosemary. So I start singing "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme..." which does not go over well as I cannot sing to save my life.
"Look, if you're going to be critical, mix the basting for me." I tell her, and snap this photo.
Hey, the flash worked that time. How'd I do that? Ooops, time for another beer....so the bird mounts over the half-full tin of beer like this...
...and you shove her right down of course. It's a pretty stable set-up, actually. Baste the bird completely NOW, before you put it on the barbie. Sip some more beer while you do that.
I am using a gas B.B.Q. that I've had for 20 years. I use it every day. After all, this is Mexico, and everyday is B.B.Q.ing weather. Those stainless steel burners that have a 5-year warranty last like 2 years when you use the thing everyday. I am currently using a burner that I bought in a Walmart in Tulsa in 2011. Anyway, cook the bird for 10 minutes (lid down) on high heat and then lower the heat to medium. Cook with the lid down. Make sure before you start this process that you have the space between your grill rack and the top of the lid and make any necessary adjustments (like removing warming racks or stuff that could knock over your whole arrangement) before you get going. I am told this also will work fine with a Charcoal B.B.Q., but I do not have one, and will leave that for someone else to try and report on. So, the whole sheebang goes on the grill like this. As you can see, that drip-tray underneath means you are cooking with indirect heat, which is as it's supposed to be. I snuck Phil Roettinger's Magnum into this photo just to aggravate Lee because he'll think I'll get chicken splatter on it or worse.
Baste the bird every 30 minutes or so. Keeps it moist. Adds lots of taste. Remember to drink more dark, frothy beer. Keep the lid down when you are cooking and only open it to baste the bird and show all the people you are cooking for how good the bird looks. One bird serves 4 people. One six-pack of dark frothy beer seems to serve one person. By this point in the evening I'm wearing my Super in a Miami Vice style (season 01) Ted Blocker Lifeline holster. And I'm pretty blitzed. Time to open another frothy...
Someone will ask about "cooking time" but that has a lot to do with the efficiency of your B.B.Q.. Mine is old, and it takes about an hour and three-quarters to cook to the right tempuratures. Maybe two hours for a bigger bird. I initially cooked the bird until it was 180 degrees in the breast, but it was rather dry. I read on the Internet to cook to 175 in the breast and 180 in the legs/thigh area. I tried that and the bird was just perfect. Nobody got sick or died either. Actually, one of my meat thermometers showed 175 and the other, a *POP* type thermometer said it was done when inserted into the breast so I take that as "cooked enough". Either way, take the tempurature to be sure. The chicken will often look cooked enough about half and hour before it actually is. You should be on your second-last frothy by now, as you want to save one for the actual meal.
Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy, or potato salad. My wife makes the World's best Guacamole, and we have that as well. Apple pie with Ice Cream makes a nice desert, and (being an Ice Cream store owner you can take my word on this) is completely non-fattening. For some reason, the times I have tried this recipe I have always woken up the next morning with a slight headache for some reason, but I will keep investigating that mystical side-effect.
Enjoy!
I read on the Internet that you get a tastier chicken if you use a good, frothy dark beer. So, on my next attempt, I ran across the street to the little beer dispensery at the end of the block and took a look at what they had. A lot of beer, no doubt, it's what they sell. But there was nothing in the can that was particularly dark beer as far as I could see. The standard Modelo in the can is like somewhere between dark and light I suppose, but I wanted a frothy, dark beer.
The grouchy old man (at least, he's always grouchy to me, but maybe he doesn't like derned foreigners) finally asked me what I was looking for. "I want a dark beer in a can," I told him. "Something like Indio beer...got anything like that?"
"Have you tried Leon?" He asked me. Leon is a locally produced beer in a tin, and not very expensive. I always figured it had to be poor quality, based on the price and the fact that it's produced locally. "Uh, no." I replied. "Is it any good?"
Showing the first emotion on his face I've ever noticed that wasn't a scowl, he sort of brightened up for a moment and said, "I rather like it." So I bought a six-pack.
Okay, so first, you wash the chicken. At least, down here you do. My wife, fanatic about "eating right", had skinned the bird before I got back from the beer store. What can you do?
The recipe says that you are supposed to open the beer and drink half of it, leaving the can half-full of beer. This was stressed over-and-over (as I stress it here), so I complied. Washing the bird, I took a sip. "Say, this cheap beer is pretty good stuff..."
If you look around the Internet you can actually find "mounts" for a beer-can chicken. A lot of the B.B.Q. accessory companies are now making them. But you can make your own. Here in backwoods Mexico, good luck doing it any other way. You need a drip-tray to catch all the juices that flow down so your B.B.Q. doesn't turn into a Hamburg-style firestorm, and something to mount the bird and beer-can onto so it doesn't fall over on you in the B.B.Q. . I just put a ceramic bowl on the center of a round or square aluminum baking plate, put the half-full can of beer onto the ceramic bowl...
...I have started to lay selected "toys" into the photos to keep the interest of those of you who -- like me -- get bored if I don't see firearms in the photos every now and then when I'm on a firearms forum. The photos are losing quality, and SAY!!! This cheap beer is really good!
....at about this point, my wife insists that I lay out all the ingredients that go into the basting. "You're already drunk!" She says that accusingly. I offer her a mug of the beer. She tells me she doesn't drink beer. I hold out my mug. She takes a sip. "Say," she remarks. "This frothy dark beer is pretty good." She pops a tab on another tin. I lay out the basting ingredients to take this photo of: Olive oil, butter (which you melt in the microwave and mix 50/50 or even 60/40 with the olive oil), salt, pepper, limes of which you squish the juice into the mix, paprika, and rosemary. Rosemary in Spanish is "Romero", and when I pop another dark, frothy beer into my icy mug I ask my wife what the heck Romero is and she says Rosemary. So I start singing "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme..." which does not go over well as I cannot sing to save my life.
"Look, if you're going to be critical, mix the basting for me." I tell her, and snap this photo.
Hey, the flash worked that time. How'd I do that? Ooops, time for another beer....so the bird mounts over the half-full tin of beer like this...
...and you shove her right down of course. It's a pretty stable set-up, actually. Baste the bird completely NOW, before you put it on the barbie. Sip some more beer while you do that.
I am using a gas B.B.Q. that I've had for 20 years. I use it every day. After all, this is Mexico, and everyday is B.B.Q.ing weather. Those stainless steel burners that have a 5-year warranty last like 2 years when you use the thing everyday. I am currently using a burner that I bought in a Walmart in Tulsa in 2011. Anyway, cook the bird for 10 minutes (lid down) on high heat and then lower the heat to medium. Cook with the lid down. Make sure before you start this process that you have the space between your grill rack and the top of the lid and make any necessary adjustments (like removing warming racks or stuff that could knock over your whole arrangement) before you get going. I am told this also will work fine with a Charcoal B.B.Q., but I do not have one, and will leave that for someone else to try and report on. So, the whole sheebang goes on the grill like this. As you can see, that drip-tray underneath means you are cooking with indirect heat, which is as it's supposed to be. I snuck Phil Roettinger's Magnum into this photo just to aggravate Lee because he'll think I'll get chicken splatter on it or worse.
Baste the bird every 30 minutes or so. Keeps it moist. Adds lots of taste. Remember to drink more dark, frothy beer. Keep the lid down when you are cooking and only open it to baste the bird and show all the people you are cooking for how good the bird looks. One bird serves 4 people. One six-pack of dark frothy beer seems to serve one person. By this point in the evening I'm wearing my Super in a Miami Vice style (season 01) Ted Blocker Lifeline holster. And I'm pretty blitzed. Time to open another frothy...
Someone will ask about "cooking time" but that has a lot to do with the efficiency of your B.B.Q.. Mine is old, and it takes about an hour and three-quarters to cook to the right tempuratures. Maybe two hours for a bigger bird. I initially cooked the bird until it was 180 degrees in the breast, but it was rather dry. I read on the Internet to cook to 175 in the breast and 180 in the legs/thigh area. I tried that and the bird was just perfect. Nobody got sick or died either. Actually, one of my meat thermometers showed 175 and the other, a *POP* type thermometer said it was done when inserted into the breast so I take that as "cooked enough". Either way, take the tempurature to be sure. The chicken will often look cooked enough about half and hour before it actually is. You should be on your second-last frothy by now, as you want to save one for the actual meal.
Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy, or potato salad. My wife makes the World's best Guacamole, and we have that as well. Apple pie with Ice Cream makes a nice desert, and (being an Ice Cream store owner you can take my word on this) is completely non-fattening. For some reason, the times I have tried this recipe I have always woken up the next morning with a slight headache for some reason, but I will keep investigating that mystical side-effect.
Enjoy!
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