Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day.....

But -
Give him a can of beer, and you have dinner for two!


The chicken is blushing.....

I took a small break from dinner duties and let Jim work his magic. And magical it was.

Beer Can Chicken
(or soda can chicken)
There is no set way to do this, but here is what Jim did

One 31/2 - 4lb chicken
One can of beer (you can use soda as well - cola or lemon lime will do)
One small whole onion OR potato
Seasoning Rub - We used McCormick Montreal Chicken
Butter
One aluminum, disposable pie plate

We have a beer can chicken rack that I picked up at Linens and Things for about $5. It is a metal contraption that has three legs and a support for the can of beer.

Rinse your chicken
Empty half of the can of beer into the pie plate...NOT your tummy!
Place can with remaining beer in the rack.
Generously rub chicken with butter and seasoning rub outside, as well as the inner cavity.
Place chicken down over the beer can on the rack.
Place the potato or onion in the neck cavity to seal in vapors.
Place the pie plate with beer on the grill. Place chicken and rack in plate. Cook for 2 hours until skin is dark and very crisp.

We have a charcoal grill and Jim allowed the coals to get hot, slid them around to form a ring around the pie plate and added a few charcoals every 30 minutes to keep it hot. As you can see in the picture, the top rack is removed and the chicken is down with the pie plate sitting on the base rack where the charcoal sits.

According to the chicken rack packaging if you have a gas gril, place the chicken on left side of grill and set the right side burner to low-medium.

When done, CAREFULLY remove, secure the base with a hot pad and gently lift chicken from rack. Seriously...be careful here, there is REALLY hot beer in the can.

I served this with roasted red skin potatoes and cucumber salad