Chicken--the Other White Meat!

Received an email from a friend and loyal reader. It said: "I'm playing a drinking game with your blog. Every time you write the word 'pork' I take a drink. It's only coffee, but still." It's even more funny when you know that my friend is Jewish.

Thanks for the laugh. But really, I have been enjoying the Year of the Pig . . . whether in the Czech Republic, Poland, or the Indiana State Fair. So this blog post is devoted to chicken--the other white meat!

If you want to have a chicken dish that is the most tender and moist ever, hands down, juices flowing, succulent, you can't believe it's chicken . . . come take a walk with me to the land of "Beer Can Chicken."

Really.

It's not just a myth that all those country folks who drink the cheap beer know about. No, it's made its way to full-on culinary respectability, and the beer is still cheap . . .

So, go to the chicken store and get a whole chicken or three. I'm working with three because there are 10 of us for dinner. Rub it with canola oil and your favorite rub inside and out and let it percolate in the fridge overnight. Then (and this is where its gets personal), open a can of beer and drink about half. Drop a couple garlic cloves in the can and then stick the can up the back side of the chicken. Really. So the chicken is sitting upright on the can. Put an onion or a potato or something similar in the top (neck cavity) of the chicken so the steam cannot escape. Then put it on the grill.

Hello, this is me and my three new friends and our grill waiting to get happy. I let the grill pre heat and then try to position the chickens so none is directly over a flame--this time I turned off the middle burner, had the others on medium/medium-low, and left them alone for about an hour and 15 minutes.

I kept monitoring the temp because I'd really like it to be 300 degrees or above inside the grill. It took it a while for the temp to recover with three chickens, so all total I probably left it on the grill for an hour and 20-30 minutes, but then I took its temp and the chickens hit 160 and all was more than well.

Look at how incredibly brown and crunchy they look. And you will not believe the juicyness until you make them for yourself. Everyone said it was the most moist chicken they had ever had. We now swear by this method and it's so easy. So if you're looking for something to jazz up the other white meat, try beer-can chicken. And don't use a fancy beer. Just drink about half of a can of Miller, drop in a couple garlic cloves, and then shove it up the back side of a chicken. In about 90 minutes (or about 70 for one), you will have the most fabulous chicken ever.

If you're really daring, try root beer or coca-cola. The trick is the juiciness from the can of beverage, and not the fact that you're using beer.

And just a tip . . .  it needs at least 45 minutes to cool before you can handle it to pull the chicken off the beer. They become attached! Then carve it and eat. YUM!

Bon Appetit!