I feel compelled, after ripping on chicken the other day, to provide the dear readers a chicken recipe (and a beer can scavenger hunt story), because my point isn’t to make everyone a vegetarian, which actually would be lovely. My point is, that to keep your body parts functioning to the best of their ability, you need to care what you consume and how much. That includes limiting your animal products and trying to get them from farmers you trust. So we’re learning to cut back on foods that aren’t great for us and replacing some of them with foods that are spectacular.
It’s trendy to grill a whole chicken on a beer can, the plus being that the chicken balances nicely in a sitting position on the grill. It doesn’t cook faster or more evenly, doesn’t increase the moisture content, and cannot change the flavor since there’s no way the beer is going to get to the chicken with the can between the beer and the meat. But I wanted to go through the process for the sake of getting a picture for the blog.
First, I needed a beer can and I couldn’t find any beer in the house in cans, so I drove up to the new beer and wine store. The last time I was there, the owner was giving out beer samples, so I thought maybe he’d have an extra can to sell me so I wouldn’t have to buy a whole 6-pack. Pulling into the parking lot, I saw a can on the side of the road that someone must have thrown out of their car. If the chicken were just for me, I would’ve picked up that can which would have helped the environment and solved my dilemma immediately, but I didn’t want to lie or gross anyone out at home if they happened to ask where I got the can. I didn’t have any luck finding a lone beer can in the store, but I bought a nice bottle of pinot grigio.
Next I headed to the gas station because it suddenly struck me that it doesn’t really matter what’s in the can. You drink or dump out half the contents and the weight of the rest of the liquid in the can holds up the bird. With that epiphany I thought it would be a no-brainer to grab a can of something from a convenience store. I went in and saw that all of the canned sodas are now 16 ounces instead of 12. I’m not sure when they grew; I thought they were making mini cans now for people who realized 12 ounces of high fructose corn syrup was way too much. I picked up a can of coke and went up to the counter and asked the two clerks, “Do any of the drinks come in a smaller can than this?”
One of the guys said, “No, but those are only 99 cents and they’re $1.49 at 7-11.”
I said, “Yeah, but how am I going to stick this huge thing up a chicken?” He was apparently at a loss for words and the other clerk quickly walked off, so I bought the coke. The nearest 7-11 is about 8 miles away but I have to give the guy credit for knowing his market. I opened my coke in the car and took a couple gulps and my eyeballs felt like they were popping out of my head. I’m not used to drinking this stuff – moonshine is smoother – I grabbed some napkins out of the glove box because I had to wipe my eyes so I could drive home. Back in my driveway I handed the can to my son and he had no problem downing half the soda … just for the sake of his mom’s blog I’m sure.
This is an herb-spiced chicken recipe that is perfect for the grill. You’ll find that chicken sits quite loosely in its skin. You can easily slide your fingers between the meat and the skin, and it’s the perfect place to hold your spices against the meat as it cooks while keeping it moist.
In one picture I’m showing how you can get the spice rub all the way down to the thigh meat. It’s your choice whether you want to eat or remove the cooked skin, but at least save any of the spices under the skin when you’re cleaning the bird afterward to add flavor to the leftovers.
There are a couple of caveats to beer can grilling. First, the chicken is upright, so to cook it fairly evenly, you need to create a convection oven environment. So you heat up the grill until the inside is a consistent temperature then turn off one side and put the chicken on that side, out of the direct heat, preferably on something that will prevent the bottom from cooking sooner than the top. At first I put my chicken on the wrong side, so the skin on the bottom got a bit charred before I noticed and moved it. Next, it’s nearly impossible to grab a chicken with your grilling tongs when it’s the width of a whole chicken with a beer can shoved inside. It can really make a mess; hence there is only one somewhat doctored photograph.
The cooking time varies with the size of the chicken, but on medium heat my 3.5 pound chicken only took 40 minutes to get over 165 degrees. I was surprised it finished so quickly and didn’t have my other dishes ready so just threw together a salad. We were down to three people for dinner and had enough left over to make chicken salad for another dinner. Could we have eaten the whole thing? Yes, I probably could have eaten it myself. But part of celebrating food and eating mindfully is paying attention to your portion sizes; I’ll talk about that more some other day.
I bought two chickens from the same farmer and froze one, so there will be another grilled chicken yet this summer and next time I will demonstrate using an easier, more sensible, and less dangerous method than a can.
Herb-Spiced Grilled Chicken – with or without a Can up Its … Cavity
1 3-5 pound farm-fresh chicken
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1 t thyme (parsley or whatever you have is fine)
1 t honey
1 crushed garlic clove
½ t sea salt
¼ t pepper
Preheat the whole grill to medium-high. Whisk everything together and rub it under the loosened chicken skin. Let sit 15-20 minutes if you have time. Turn off half the grill (or move the coals over) and put the chicken on that half on foil or a foil pan with a few holes in it. Cover and cook until a thermometer in the thickest part of the meat is 165.
