Recipe - Roasted Garlic Crusted Beer Can Chicken

Beer can chicken is over done these days. The trouble is, it's rarely done well - people seem to think that if they stick the chicken on a beer can and cook it it will turn out amazing; most people who rave about it, in fact take in more beer than they do, chicken. Anyway, here is a true smokehouse approach to this classic (if over done) dish.

Step 1. Peel a whole head of garlic and toss with 1 Tbsp Olive oil, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper and a pinch of dry thyme.

Step 1. Place garlic in a roasting pan and cover with aluminum foil. Roast the garlic at 400f for 45 mins till an hour, turning every 15 mins so the garlic doesn't burn.

Step 3. Put the roasted garlic (below) in a bowl and mash to form a rough paste.

Step 4. Prepare a rub for the chicken - I suggest the recipe from my blog Recipe - Rub your Bird.

Step 5. Take the chicken and use your fingers to detach the skin from the breast, thighs and legs - this will help us apply the rub and garlic paste. Also, if you see some easy-to-reach fat, feel free to cut it off.

Step 6. Cover the bird with Olive oil, teh Rub and the Garlic Paste under the skin and on top of the skin.

Step 7. Prepare your "Beer Can Mechanism". You can see that I'm not even using a beer can . . . or beer for that matter. Beer works, but ginger ale works well too (and that's all I had in my house). Drink half the can and put it into the holder.

Step 8. Have the bird sit on the can

Step 9. Prepare the grill. I have hickory wood chips in a smoke-box on the left side of the grill. Both burners are on low so the temp is 400f.

Step 10. Put the bird on the grill.

After about an hour, the bird should be done - check to ensure the breast meat is at 165f and the thighs are at 185 - it should look like this:

Step 11. Remove the bird from the holder and let rest under aluminum foil for 20 mins.

Once finished resting, carve it as you wish and serve with BBQ Sauce - check out my blog titled Recipe - Sweet n' Sticky Chicken n' Rib sauce.


Thoughts - this was BY FAR the best chicken I have done - it was loaded with flavour and you could really tell something special had happened to this bird. From the Rub to the Roasted Garlic to the Smoke to the BBQ Sauce - this was one sophisticated bird. I would change NOTHING.

Enjoy,
Seb

Recipe - Rub Your Bird!

Rubbing is key to BBQ. It gives us the opportunity to take a relatively flavourless piece of meat and apply a combination of salty-sweet-hot-bitter-whatever flavour. The truth is, it's tough to go wrong with almost any combination of spices to make a rub. In my opinion as long as you have a huge POP of flavour, you will do fine! Here is my recipe for a simple rub that will cover about 2 whole chickens.

• 2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
• 1 Tbsp Paprika
• 1 Tbsp Dry Mustard
• 1 Tbsp Onion Powder
• 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
• 1 Tsp Ground Cumin
• 1 Tsp Fresh Ground Pepper
• 1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger
• 1/4 Tsp Allspice

Combine all ingredients with a wisk and rub liberally UNDER the skin, inside the cavity and on top of the skin of the bird.

Enjoy,
Seb

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Recipe - Sweet n' Stickey Chicken n' Rib Sauce

I usually buy my BBQ sauce - I figure, if it tastes better in the store, why should I waste my time trying to come up with something better . . . of course, that isn't very fun, is it! I worked on a BBQ Sauce today that I think works very well with Chicken and Ribs. Here it is:

• 1/2 Cup Ketchup
• 1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup White Honey
  
• 1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
  
• 1 Tbsp Chili Powder
• 1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
• 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp Low-Sodium Soy Sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp Ground Cumin
• 1 Tsp Liquid Smoke (Hickory)
• 1/2 Tsp All Spice
• 1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger

Combine all ingredients in a pot over medium-low heat and simmer for 20 mins. Let cool on counter-top and serve as a glaze or dipping sauce.

Enjoy,
Seb