Beer Chicken and Pork Ribs...mmmmm...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Now, I have to preface this with the statement that I am an excellent grill-meister. Yes, I am very proud of this distinction because I have become an excellent griller with charcoal and matches, and not with propane. IMHO, propane is cheating.

That said, last night I tried something new. I took a thawed, whole chicken, poked a couple of small holes in the top of a 12-oz. beer can and shoved the beer can up the chicken’s backside. I then placed the chicken and beer on a disposable aluminum pie tin, so the chicken appeared to be “sitting” on the pie tin. All of this after I had a nice, hot fire going in the grill (a big, 3-ft.-wide Char-Broil I bought at Lowe’s a couple of years ago). I sprayed some Pam on the chicken, then salted and peppered it. I then placed the chicken on the grill.

Because it would take about an hour for this chicken to cook, I decided to make good use of the extra surface area of my grill and threw on a few 'dogs, and some link sausage. In addition, I tenderized and salted and peppered six country-style pork ribs (no, not short ribs), about 4 lbs. worth, and dropped them on the grill as well. It took about a half hour for the miscellaneous meats to cook in there with the chicken, with fairly frequent turning.

Oh my goodness, were those ribs fantastic! Turns out the boiling beer moisturized the entire grill! Those ribs were tender, juicy, and didn’t need any additional seasoning…mmmmm…

Now, back to the chicken…
After the other meats were done, I left the chicken in there to continue to cook. Overall, the chicken took about an hour to reach 180 degrees in the center of the breast meat. Now, understand, all I’ve had to do to this chicken is shove a beer can up it’s butt, spray the chicken with cooking spray and salt and pepper it. When the chicken had reached 180 degrees, I pulled it off the grill and brought it inside. The meat, quite literally, fell off the bones. We didn’t even need a knife to separate the individual legs/thighs, wings from the carcass. The breast meat just pulled away from the bones. And not to mention, this chicken had absolutely fantastic flavor without any additional seasonings!! …mmmmmmmmm…

Just had to share! Easy, easy, easy…

  • Dirk
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I have been doing that for years. I have also found 12 oz. cans of beer is not enough, the can is empty before the chicken is done. I use 16 oz. cans such as Bud or Old Milwaukee, which happen to be the only 16 oz. beers sold where I live, empty the swill from the cans down the drain and fill with a better quality brew. You can also add some of your favorite seasoning to the beer such as bay leaves or other dry spices. I also like to stuff a quartered small onion in the neck. I think I know what I am having for dinner tonight. A cookbook I origionally found the idea in also suggest that you never reuse the can.

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Does the chicken end up tasting like beer? I’ve heard of this before, but I’m one of those weird people who HATES beer. But falling-off-the-bones chicken is WONDERFUL.

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racer72,
My chicken was fairly small, so I’m not sure I could’ve fit a 16-oz. can in there. Also, there was still a significant amount of beer in the can when I was done, but the chicken was still very juicy.

whiterabbit,
It didn’t taste like beer to me…I think the reason it cooks so tender has something to do with the fact that alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, so it makes steam more quickly. That steam then circulates in the grill (or oven, I suppose). Also, I noticed that the overflow from the beer can spilled into the pie tin, which then boiled, also. This had the effect of self-basting the chicken.
FTR, I used cheap-O Bud Light (I don’t drink beer) - I’m not sure the beer really makes a difference, since I believe the alcohol is what makes it cook the way it does, but others may disagree.