Beer can chicken-Cooking on the cheap, week 3

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog about food.  Food we eat out and food we eat at home and food we think about eating.

Hi.  Well, this is the third "$5 Friday" meal I am showing you.  It is what I prepare when I find stuff on sale at local grocery stores and do the cooking.  Everything here is kind of simple, tasty and what was available when I went shopping, save for a few "staples" I have around the house.

So, whole chickens are 99¢ a pound at Henry's this week.  I did get a 5 pounder, which is the whole budget, but this will make more than food for at least two meals for two people.

You also need a can of beer- any kind will do.  Even soda pop, sweetened (not with that artificial stuff in it), some  seasoned salt and a bunch of rosemary. I have a Rosemary plant, apparently the Chernobyl variety, that grew from a 50¢ garage sale  mini pot into a 3 foot by 3 foot monster of a bush.

It also helps if you have one of these contraptions placed in a pan.  It holds a can.  It cost 88¢ at WalMart years ago.  You can get one for about $15 if you want to shop elsewhere. All of them work the same way.  It  holds a can. It also will keep the chicken upright.

Drink half the can of the beer or sugared soda pop. (Just so you all know, somebody left this beer at our house: I buy dark beer for myself). 

Stuff the can with rosemary.  Put can into contraption. Put seasoned salt on the chicken. All sides.

Mount the chicken over the can. 

Place the chicken in the center of the grill.

Our grill has three burners and I put the sides on low and leave the center one off.

Cover.

Cook until juice runs clear when you put a knife in near the thigh.  About an hour in this case of a 5 pounder.

The basic premise is that the inside beverage boils and therefore steam cooks from the inside and the outside cooks, skin burns and gets crispy.

I served it with Stouffer's Spinach Souffle (on sale at Albertsons last week for $2 each).  The extra chicken will be moist and taste wonderful on a salad tomorrow.

Cathy's Beer Can Chicken

One chicken;Seasoned salt; Rosemary; One can of beer or regular (sugared)  soda

Drink half the can of beverage.  Stuff can with fresh rosemary. Mount chicken upright with can inside cavity.  Place on pan. Heat gas grill on low so there is radiant heat from all sides.  Cook until juices run clear.

Comments

[Carol]

Hey Cathy! That chicken looks tasty. I used to grill beer can chicken all the time, that is until the Mister got into cornish hens. I think I still have the contraption somewhere. I tried once to just put the chicken on the can and it worked okay with a smaller bird. I found spraying the contraption or the can with cooking spray helps the chicken slide off easier.

[nhbilly]

Easiest way took cook a bird fast and keep it very moist.

[Chris]

It is about time. We call this "beer butt chicken" back east. I like to use Tecate beer and rub with jalepeno/garlic oil with lemon and salt.The chicken is dry cooked on the outside (crispy skin) while moist cooked(steamed) from the inside making it tender and moist.

[RONW]

always wanted to know the process to make beer-can chicken. Question: (bare with me) low temperature means how many degrees?

[Cathy]

Hi Carol- Cornish game hens remind me too much of the pet quails I used to have, when lying upside down on the plate, anyhow. I never thought of spraying the contraption with nonstick-might make some cleanup easier. Thanks.
It is really good, Bill
Chris-Roll over any of the photos to see what I named the folder for this post. Lots of flavors in that skin when you make it-sounds good.
Ron-Had to think about it. On the gas grill, if the heat and flames are too high, the skin will burn to a black crisp before the inside is cooked...so the heat dial is set low. If I use the contraption on a bird inside the oven at home, I set to 350° at most. If I know I have time (it will take longer) then I set it at 325°. I just let the outside cook and crisp and the canned beverage boils and steams away on the inside and the bottom plate catches the grease.

[PGS]

I have heard chicken made this way is really tasty. I just can't stop laughing at the 'sitting' chicken, as if it is waiting for someone to come along.

I really like your $5 Friday recipes.

[Cathy]

PGS! I haven't heard from you since, like, February. CHicken this way is easy and so tasty. You probably can make it without the contraption, just make sure it is sitting pretty on a pan to catch the juice. I kind of was afraid to do the $5 Friday things, becasue the recipes are kind of simple and not exotic. But it is how we eat at home- stuff on sale that week or shopping trip. I like not really planning. Anything.

[Carol]

We also use vertical roasters called Spaneks in the oven. It's similar principle as the beer can roaster except the Spanek sits in a baking tray with choice of liquid. I like to use this for when I want to make gravy from the drippings.

[Cathy]

Oh I've seen Spaneks before, Carol. I can see how a can could fit under it also...didn't even think of it until now... The gravy thing just hit me...for the last three or four days I have been craving mashed potatoes... buttery and with gravy...mmm

[Carol]

Mmmmm! Buttery mash potato with gravy! I might have to roast some chicken and make gravy tomorrow and get the Mister to whip up a batch of his garlic mash potatos.