Sunday, August 10, 2014

Beer Can Chicken

This weekend seemed like a good time to try out some new recipes on my hubby and son Steven. So, on Saturday night I made a salad which featured black beans and Feta cheese, and also a corn casserole which just might be the best one I ever made.  Months before, I had happened on a bargain Beer Can Chicken gadget, complete with slotted pan to roast your veggies and custom built "cone" to hold that bird upright while he was turning brown & becoming delicious.

Why not? Flush with my Saturday night epicurean victory, Sunday seemed like the perfect time to 'do the chicken'. With advice from my friend Mike (king of beer can chickening) I set about the task but... soon discovered... it ain't easy!
The aforementioned gadget was outfitted with a place for the beer can; however, I only had bottled beer. I improvised. Found a long neglected bottle of Guiness in the back of the fridge; seemed like it would be a good one to get rid of so, I poured it into an empty black bean can and inserted it in the beer can place.
Time now to mount the chicken on the cone. He was all covered with a spicy rub, looking delicious already but, that chicken was not thrilled with the idea of the "CONE". He refused to sit down far enough that the hood of the grill could be closed. So the Mr. and I performed an emergency episiotomy on him... to no avail. Now we're getting desperate... the heat is escaping from the grill and all that spicy rub is falling off that damned bird!
Finally I removed the black bean beer can, poured the beer into the can holder and then replaced the cone-with-bird-atop which was now short enough to fit inside the grill. Two plus hours later... who would have thought that red potatoes could roast for two hours and still not be cooked...(finish in skillet). The bird was (mostly) done but required a quick trip to the microwave oven... all in all, it seemed like an exercise in futility. I was glad we had some leftover Black Bean Salad.