Beer Can Chicken — Turn it, Don’t Burn it.
I get asked all kinds of questions, such as, why the hell did you decide to start a blog about Beer Can Chicken? Don’t you get sick of chicken? Did you get dropped on your head as an infant?
The answer is …yes.
Probably the most frequently asked question however, is something I should have posted about long ago — whether to turn, rotate or rearrange the beer can chicken on your grill. I think the answer is yes. Here’s how I do it.
If you have read The Basic Recipe, then you have the general Beer Can Bird idea…after you set that thing down in the middle of your two rows of coals, hopefully with a nice drip pan in the middle, give it about 5 minutes with the lid on. (Remember to add some liquied to that drip pan, that will keep your chicken from turning a bonfire in the event of a grease fire.)
The fire is at it’s hottest at the start, so after 5 minutes rotate the bird about a quarter turn….give it another 5 and rotate another quarter turn. After the bird has done a complete rotation I’m feeling good about getting an even initial sear. Then I generally let it go for about 1/2 an hour in one spot, check it at one hour and give it another spin.
Most birds clock in at about an hour and 1/2 for me, but during the summer when temps are higher, sometimes the bird is done in an hour. Of course, if you are going for a low and smoky approach, you will want to use fewer coals for a longer, slower cooking method.
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Mauricio
01/03/2012 at 12:21 PM
We do ecxltay this all the time! We call it roast chicken’ and as I’m sure you know, it’s a Brit staple. We use the whole bird too roast chicken as a meal, then pull off the meat for sandwiches, and the bones go in for stock (broth). Out of even the smallest chicken, with the two of us we can get at least three meals. Plus the stock is SO much better than what you can buy for a ridiculous sum of money in the shops. I actually love doing it simply, and then I’ll make gravy from scratch using the fat from the bird that’s dripped off, and water from the inevitable boiled vegetables. Yum. On the subject of quality bird, I have had this argument so many times with K. If I go to the supermarket, we end up with a free range organic bird. If he goes, no matter that he does in principle accept my arguments about animal care, meat quality, and who-knows-what goes into a typical supermarket bargain chicken, he will still come away with a but this was a bargain!’ chicken. I despise shopping, but if he goes, I get a sub-standard bird and a bunch of unnecessary plastic.