what's cooking wednesday - drunken chicken

So how much beer does it take to get a chicken drunk? You'd be surprised at how little. Chicken is a lightweight. The other night as Mike was heading out to run some errands I asked him to pick me up a can of beer. One can? One can of beer? He was incredulous. I expected him to stop for one can of beer. For what? Well to ram up a chicken's butt, if you must know. Well folks, if there was ever a chance he was actually going to stop for that one can of beer it evaporated right then when I let him in on what it was going to be used for. So he left grumbling and I was certain there was no, one can of beer in my future.

Obviously somewhere along the road he changed his mind and he did come home with one can of beer. A budweiser, tall boy. And yet even though he purchased the can of beer he still thought my plan for it was ridiculous. That there was no way this could taste good. That there was no way the chicken wouldn't taste like beer. Well we were about to find out.



Drunken Chicken

1 (3 lb) whole chicken
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Dijon style mustard
8 fluid ounces of beer
1/2 cup Italian dressing.

Prepare outdoor grill for medium heat.

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Coat chicken with mustard.

Pour half the beer out into a glass and enjoy (if you wish) and refill with Italian dressing. Place can on disposable cooking sheet. Set chicken on beer can (it acts as a stand) inserting can into cavity of the chicken.

Place baking sheet with beer and chicken on prepared grill. Cover and cook for one hour or until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear.

Recipe Notes: Well, in reading the reviews for this recipe a lot of commenters felt the chicken was lacking in a little zip so I gave the chicken a few decent shakes from my trusty lemon pepper spice blend. I have to admit I was a little concerned about the stability of this project, so I purchased a beer can roaster, which didn't work exactly since Mike had bought a "tall boy", making the can too tall to fit inside the brackets. Anyhoo, as it turns out I didn't even need it. The Beer can and chicken together are way more stable , who would've known. This chicken gets high marks for ease of preparation. Once you've placed it on the bbq grill that pretty much it until it's cooked. I actually cooked for the first 30-ish minutes using indirect heat. For the last 20 ish or so minutes I placed the chicken in between the two burners and set it for medium low. See I told you, easy peasy lemon squeezy. Before stuffing the beer in the chicken put a piece of onion in the cavity to help hold the steam in. And that's it, there's nothing I'd really change. This recipe makes a great moist roast chicken with very little effort.

Shan's rating: 5/5
Mike's rating: 4/5 (he's the Russian Olympic judge when it comes to rating my recipes)
Abby's rating: handsome (and that about says it all folks!)

Still hungy?

Caffee Granita at bleeding espresso...
Quacamole from virtually there
Beef and Broccoli at Auntie Dar's Life
and Kickin' Tuscan Chicken at Piacere

What's Cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that "what's for dinner" rut. Playing is easy, wait until Wednesday rolls around and post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you. Pictures are always appreciated, but not necessary to play. Then drop me an email or leave a comment letting me know you played so I can add you to the WCW weekly master list.