finally doing a beer butt chicken

Unknown · June 2000

I've done several of the brined roaster chickens in the poultry stand with drip pan and LOVE THEM, but tonight I'm doing the quickee from store to grill thing as it would be nice to find an alternative to the lead time preparation. That beer butt is done directly with no pan - right? Momma kat is out today fetching salmon and New york strips for later, but right now chickee be my project de'jour ^oo^~

BluesnBBQ · June 2000

one feral kat,[p]I'd do it with a pan. There's lots of fat in a chicken, and you don't want that dripping onto the coals. You can put the can on a roasting rack and put the rack on a foil pan. That should work. [p]Good luck! I know you'll be eating well tonight.[p]-Steve

Dooms-Dave · June 2000

BluesnBBQ,
I (naive and new to BGE) am working my way from the easy stuff up to the beer butt chicken and have some basic anatomical questions about this whole beer can thing:[p]1. Is the beer can filled (e.g. with beer) or empty?
2. Is it (strategically placed and) used to hold the chicken upright over the grate and drip pan? And does this replace the need for the wire vertical roaster thingee?
3. Does it serve some other purpose (e.g. steaming beer rising inside the chicken cavity).[p]AND FINALLY, from the mouths of babes, my 4 year old to be specific:
-- Do chicken know that they're made of meat?[p]Thanks (especially for the answer to #4).[p]DD

Gretl · June 2000

Dooms-Dave,
I have done the vertical roaster, not the beer can. Rumor has it that Tweety has a tendency to fall over during the roast when perched on the can. The can, by the way, is half full, the other half being sacrificed to the chef. The answer is Yes to your Question 3; the beer rises into the cavity.[p]I view the vertical frame roaster as sort of a Hannibal Lecter Poultry Suppository. It's...well...gross, to say the least, getting the bird and roaster frame to become As One. But after the chicken's on the roaster and there's beer in the drip pan and the whole shebang's on the Egg, something really wonderful happens. Now, go find out for yourself and report back.
Cheers,
Gretl

BluesnBBQ · June 2000

Dooms-Dave,[p]I've tried beer butt chicken and it's good. But it's not really much different from a chicken on a poultry sitter. [p]To answer your questions 1) The beer should be about half full, with some spices added if you wish. The rest of the beer goes inside the chef. Make sure you buy more than one beer for this, so you'll have some more for the chef while the chicken is cooking. "Basting" the chef might be the most important part of good barbecue. [p]2) I would do it like this: Can in chicken. Chicken balanced on a roasting rack. Roasting rack on a drip pan.[p]3) It is supposed to add flavor and moisture, but I get similar results with a brined bird on a chicken sitter.[p]4) I can only answer that by quoting from my favorite bumper sticker: "If god didn't want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?" :-)[p]Good luck![p]-Steve

finally doing a beer butt chicken

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