When it comes to methods to cook chicken on the barbecue grill, recipes abound. One that became popular in recent years is "beer can chicken", which is also affectionately referred to as "beer in the butt chicken." This recipe most likely came about when someone determined that a whole chicken can be roasted upright on the grill by inserting a half-filled beer can into its abdominal cavity and using its legs to form a trivet. According to folklore, the heat from the grill is supposed to cause the liquid in the can to steam, thus basting the chicken from the inside out. Though I am skeptical, I have always liked the idea of roasting a chicken upright.

Last week, Canadian Tire had a sale on a rig to facilitate cooking this particular preparation of chicken. At $3.99, I thought it was a steal, so I purchased one. Little did I know, Walmart sells a wire-frame rig, called the "Chick Can", for the same price. The rig I purchased, consists of three stainless steel ribs/stems and a drip pan. A 355 ml aluminium can fits under the ribs/stems which are fixed together with a heavy-duty rivet. The ribs/stems then hook into the drip pan, which holds the rig together quite securely. A whole chicken fits over top.

Since I didn't have a 355 ml beer can available, I used a pop can and ginger-ale to put together an oven-based recipe. Though I'm still not sure about the significance of the liquid inside of the can, the chicken came out juicy and succulent. I don't think any of the ginger-ale really evaporated.

Recipe follows:

Here are pictures of the rig before and after roasting:

Before

After

Firstly, I didn't have a whole chicken on hand, but I had one bone-in double chicken breast and some chicken carcass, so I improvised.

Chicken Breast
I took the carcass and connected it to the back of the chicken breast. I then trussed everything together with butcher twine.

Tied like a roast

The rest is somewhat self explanatory.

Raw

Roasted - Top

Roasted - Front

Roasted - Left

Roasted - Right

Done

Recipe

Stuff You'll Need:

• One fryer chicken (or a large bone in double breast and a boned double breast caracass :P)
• Half a 355 ml can of ginger ale (retain can - beer is supposed to work too)
• Enough chicken seasoning to liberally cover the chicken

For seasoning, I used the chicken rub from an episode of Alton Brown's Good Eats, called "Fry Hard."

• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Please purchase a rig like the ones pictured. This way, you can securely stand up a chicken on a sheet pan without worry that the chicken may fall over, spilling liquid into your oven. If the liquid is alcoholic, this will result in an unsightly fire. If the liquid is anything else, you're going to have an unsightly mess.

Method:

1. Place an oven rack on the bottom most rung of your oven. Remove the other oven racks and store safely.
2. Pre-heat an oven to 350°F
3. Place your 355 ml can and its contents into the "beer-can chicken" rig
4. Secure your chicken onto the "beer-can chicken" rig and place the rig on a sheet pan. Any lipped baking sheet will do.
5. Douse liberally with chicken seasoning
6. Roast in the oven until an insta-read thermometer placed into the breast reads 160°F. Some other recipes state that the leg meat should read 180°F.
7. Remove from oven and allow to rest.
8. Carefully remove chicken from "beer-can chicken" rig, carve, and serve.

For my chicken breast number, I only needed to cook it for an hour. A whole chicken should take longer.

Bookmark with: