Comments on: Episode 14 – Beer Can Chicken http://cocktailconfessions.com/archives/756 A man. A drink. And plenty of stories. Sun, 20 May 2012 02:40:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: admin http://cocktailconfessions.com/archives/756/comment-page-1#comment-151 admin Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:58:15 +0000 http://cocktailconfessions.com/?p=756#comment-151 Thank you Paul for the suggestions. You make an excellent point about the 'freshness' liner I didn't even think about. Interesting that by using two burners, you were able to cut the time down so much. How big was your bird? As with all "que's", you really have to experiment with your own to find the 'sweet' spot and regulate cooking times. All grills cook slightly differently depending on their size, BTU output, height of kettle (or dome), how many times people open/close grill during cooking, and of course how 'sealed' it is. Myself, I prefer the slow and low method...it tends to retain moisture better and helps avoid burning, although the main draw back is indeed time. Thank you Paul for the suggestions. You make an excellent point about the ‘freshness’ liner I didn’t even think about. Interesting that by using two burners, you were able to cut the time down so much. How big was your bird? As with all “que’s”, you really have to experiment with your own to find the ‘sweet’ spot and regulate cooking times. All grills cook slightly differently depending on their size, BTU output, height of kettle (or dome), how many times people open/close grill during cooking, and of course how ‘sealed’ it is.

Myself, I prefer the slow and low method…it tends to retain moisture better and helps avoid burning, although the main draw back is indeed time.

]]> By: The Belly http://cocktailconfessions.com/archives/756/comment-page-1#comment-144 The Belly Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:59:31 +0000 http://cocktailconfessions.com/?p=756#comment-144 Thanks for the podcast! I recently tried this cooking method, and had pretty good success. Wanted to add some thoughts. 1. A good rub is key to this, and if really want to expand the flavor, separate the skin from the meat (I even went down around the legs) and get that rub in there real good. If you are going for a higher temp/faster cook, make a "rub paste" by adding some olive oil on the meat/skin first. Got a meat marinade injector? Perfect for this type of cooking. 2. We added lemon to the beer, and thin slices fit in the can just fine. 3. Be aware of any can with a "freshness liner", this is basically a plastic and you don't want to steam your bird with that stuff! (Want to be completely safe, pour your bottle beer into a soda can!) 4. Let the bird sit for 10 minutes, and LEAVE THE CAN IN DURING THIS TIME! If you take the can out too quickly, you will release all the internal steam, and will dry out the cavity. 5. We used a big Weber gas grill, only thing I did was to put a metal pie pan under the grills, in the center of the grill to catch the drippings. The pan did get hot enough to vaporize the fat run off to baste the bird a bit. I ran the front and back burners at 1/4 and held a temp of 375 pretty easily. Indirect is the way to go, and our bird was done in about 1:15. Thanks for the podcast! I recently tried this cooking method, and had pretty good success. Wanted to add some thoughts.
1. A good rub is key to this, and if really want to expand the flavor, separate the skin from the meat (I even went down around the legs) and get that rub in there real good. If you are going for a higher temp/faster cook, make a “rub paste” by adding some olive oil on the meat/skin first. Got a meat marinade injector? Perfect for this type of cooking.
2. We added lemon to the beer, and thin slices fit in the can just fine.
3. Be aware of any can with a “freshness liner”, this is basically a plastic and you don’t want to steam your bird with that stuff! (Want to be completely safe, pour your bottle beer into a soda can!)
4. Let the bird sit for 10 minutes, and LEAVE THE CAN IN DURING THIS TIME! If you take the can out too quickly, you will release all the internal steam, and will dry out the cavity.
5. We used a big Weber gas grill, only thing I did was to put a metal pie pan under the grills, in the center of the grill to catch the drippings. The pan did get hot enough to vaporize the fat run off to baste the bird a bit. I ran the front and back burners at 1/4 and held a temp of 375 pretty easily. Indirect is the way to go, and our bird was done in about 1:15.

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