Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

beer can chicken question

Options
Eggin in Peoria
Eggin in Peoria Posts: 262
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
ok, looks like chicken question day for me. I've read a couple recipes for beer-can chicken and saw a few that recommended brining. I was under the assumption that brining is a good way to keep meat moist during cooking. Since this is also the reason for the beer-can, is brining redundant? What's the added benefit? I'm always leary of brining as it can impart too much saltiness if portions aren't exact, IMO. [p]thanks.
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • BobS
    BobS Posts: 2,485
    Options
    Eggin in Peoria,
    I am not an expert and I never brine (too lazy), but if the chicken off the BGE was any more juicy, it would be messy to eat. [p]I have a video of the Cooks Illustrated cooking shows and they had a section where they commented that if you salt meat and then let it stand for about an hour, wrapped in plastic (if I recall the time) you get much the same effect as brining. At the beginning liquid comes out and then as the salt disolves (basically creating a brine, the liquid gets pulled back in. [p]After saying all that, I dusted my chicken with DP, Tsunami Spin and let it sit for an hour and then grilled and it was so good that I am drooling as I type this.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BobS
    BobS Posts: 2,485
    Options
    Eggin in Peoria,
    I am not an expert and I never brine (too lazy), but if the chicken off the BGE was any more juicy, it would be messy to eat. [p]I have a video of the Cooks Illustrated cooking shows and they had a section where they commented that if you salt meat and then let it stand for about an hour, wrapped in plastic (if I recall the time) you get much the same effect as brining. At the beginning liquid comes out and then as the salt disolves (basically creating a brine, the liquid gets pulled back in. [p]After saying all that, I dusted my chicken with DP, Tsunami Spin and let it sit for an hour and then grilled and it was so good that I am drooling as I type this.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Big Daddy - OCT
    Big Daddy - OCT Posts: 101
    Options
    BeerChicken1.jpg
    <p />BobS,[p]I did my first ones last weekend and they were pretty darn tasty. I wouldn't mess with brining as I agree with you that the liquid in the cans will ensure a moist result.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    Options
    Eggin in Peoria,
    if you do two chickens, try one beer-butted and the other without (but roasted vertically), as a test.[p]the beer can idea SEEMS logical, but i dunno.
    i doubt the beer 'boils' (and therefore steams) because even though the dome is way beyond 212 (or so, because beer boils higher than water i'd bet), air is so bad a conductor that I doubt the beer can ever gets to that point.[p]and then, if it did boil/steam, isn't the can so far into the chicken that 1. the steam is in the can and 2. whatever comes out is so far up in the bird that it escapes right out the neck?[p]the can itself crammed in means there's no way the 'moist beer-laden steaminess' is able to baste from the inside.[p]not to be a party pooper... my mom did it on a gasser for us, and it WAS a moist bird, but i couldn't help thinking it was because it was roasted vertically more than anything. so the thing was cooked via convection mostly, rather than one side from direct heat and the other from above/convection.[p]it'd be a good experiment, anyway.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Options
    Eggin in Peoria,
    Last week I had some leftover cajun butter injection that I made using the Dr BBQ recipe in his book. I had used in on a pork loin a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty tasty.[p]I bought a whole chicken at the last minute and needed to cook it for supper, so I just injected it with the recipe, and rubbed a little of the injection on the skin. I then vertically roasted sans beer can and it was one of the best chickens I've ever cooked![p]I don't use beer cans any more since getting my BGE, because they hold the chickens' moisture very well. I've never brined anything, but that injection really added a whole 'nother dimension to the bird. :~)[p]Cheers![p]Adrian
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Options
    Eggin in Peoria,
    Don't brine. I've done many beer can chickens. The first one I made I followed a recipe in one of the BGE online cookbooks which called for brining. It came out So salty I could barely eat it Since then no brine comes out great and juicy every time Good luck
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Eggin in Peoria
    Eggin in Peoria Posts: 262
    Options
    Eggin in Peoria,
    Thanks for all the feedback - I've always just used the can and loved the result (even if it's not adding much extra moisture as stike points out)....brining just seemed like a wasted step.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • John
    John Posts: 62
    Options
    Gang - after a quick look at the picture of the 2 beer Can chickens - is the one on the right a "Dolly Parson" chicken version ??? That looks like the biggest chicken breast I have ever seen. WOO HOO !![p]Canada Jon

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • PhilsGrill
    PhilsGrill Posts: 2,256
    Options
    Interesting. But you plug the neck of the bird with an onion or potato don't you? I do an onion. Using half a can of beer and spices, when done, I always get about a quarter of a can of liquid left. So, a quarter has apparently steamed the bird. I cook them at 325. Takes about 2 hours for a beer butt chicken, and an hour for a my half cocked chicken.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories