Beer Can Chicken on the Grill Anyone?

At a neat little novelty shop named “Mainly-New Hampshire”, I found a new rub…Spicy Jerk Rub by Flag Hill of Lee, NH.

The co-owner of the shop with his wife Deborah Bouchard-Smith, Kenneth Smith, recommended making beer can chicken on the barbecue…So…with the beautiful Mother’s Day weather…I tried it today…and it was fantastic!

Beer Can Chicken

Here’s the deal:

Take measurements of your grill…and make sure your bird isn’t too tall for your grill’s height…I bought a 4 lb. organic roaster from Cardonna’s Market in Albany.

Remove the parts…(I made a pretty solid chicken liver pate…another post…)

Coat the chicken with olive oil, then sprinkle the rub generously over the bird…all over.

Now, open your favorite 12 oz. can of beer.  Drink exactly 1/3 of the can, and stick the can in the bird’s cavity…the 1/3 is Ken’s recommendation.  I found drinking one can of  my favorite before cooking worked quite well also…well…OK…two but who’s counting?  I had some Sam’s Winter Ale leftover from my 60th birthday party…and that was my cooking steamer!

I used my new Weber 3- burner grill with two of the three burners on 2/3 power. The bird with the 2/3 can of bear went on the other side with the burner down to mininum, and down went the lid…I turned the bird 3 or 4 times just to even out the browning of the bird…my grill’s thermometer read 400 degrees for most of the cooking…and I left it in for 1 hour 45 minutes.

It was served with a peasant arugula and tomato salad…I cut 4-5 grape tomatoes into quarters, add salt and pepper to the cut up tomatoes, and toss with an extra virgin olive oil.  We let that stand for 5-20 minutes…until ready to eat…and add the arugula and toss…maybe a wedge of lemon squeezed over the salad…and mangia!

Let me know if you try this!

Now…if you don’t  like your food too spicy…the skin of the chicken is not for you…the meat should be deliciously tender and flavored…but not too spicy.  If you’d prefer a milder rub, I recommend the Santa Maria rub I have previously recommended…just scroll through my posts and you’ll see the one featuring this rub.  I’d say this rub is spicy…not over the top…but definitely has a little kick…a few cold brews and all is well in barbecue land!

Please share your barbecue tips with us!