Meathead "debunks" beer-can chicken

[Grafixgibbs]

If it's flavor you want put the chicken on a vertical rack with a drip pan filled with aromatics and the beer, then bast it with that mixture.

As for your guest discerning what kind of beer was used, next time don't pull the can out while they watch or put the beer in the container while they watch. Just kidding I am sure you preformed a fare and impartial test, with no one drinking any of said beer up to that point. My bad again.
Dave

They only knew why type of beer i used but not which container of chicken was which. It was al broken down before they arrived. :grin:

 

[Texas Turtle]

I have grown to like the spatchcocked chicken better, but they take up a lot of room on the grill. Sometimes I need to cook several chickens at once so I do both. Funny thing is, I always seem to end up with more liquid in the can than I started with. I have concluded that some of the grease cooking out of the chicken lands on the top of the can and falls in. The mechanism may not be what people think it is, but the beer can birds always seem to come out good. Everybody seems to like them, so what can it hurt (unless you spill the contents of the can on yourself taking it out)?

 

[Mo-Dave]

Nothing wrong about cooking them like that but I think its just a waste of time to expect the liquid to give them any real benefit. I have used empty cans to prop them up when I did not have stands.
Dave

 

[seadad9903]

i usually spatchcock and smoke chickens with my offset. takes about 4 hours and they come out great. i will shove a coors light up their butt and cook on the gas grill. seems to be the only way i can get rid of the coors light

 

[Wesman61]

Thank You! I haven't been fooled by the beer can gimmick for years. Long before beer can chicken became popular I steamed chicken in beer. So when I tried beer can chicken I was really disappointed by the lack of beer taste. But then again I also laugh at people that tell me how wonderful Corona beer tastes. I would believe it too but I've tasted it.Tastes like 3 day old grass clippings.

 

[Crash]

In my opinion, beer can chicken is a novelty. It sounds really freaking cool...I mean seriously, beer and BBQ and then cramming a beer up a chicken. In sounds awesome.

I agree with the article though. We tried the beer can chicken method years ago and noticed nothing extra special.

IMO, if you want a juicy, flavorful bird....brine.

 

[BobbyQ$]

Spatchcock, brine 4 hrs, rub all over with parkay and dryrub. Blows beer can away!

 

[garbageman59]

I've never used an actual beer can. I was turned on to BCC twenty years ago by some machinists I worked with. They used beer cans and told me how great it was. I asked about the label and if they thought the silk screened label and fire and food all mixed well.
I then asked why we didn't just make them out of some scrap stainless. "How big???" they asked. I replied "About the size of a beer can.....". I returned the next day to see the prototype.
An 8" by 8" piece of 3/16" stainless plate with a piece of pipe welded to the middle that was EXACTLY the size of a beer can!

They made 5 for each of us. I have 4 to this day (one day I'll find the 5th and bury the #$%^@! who stole it). They been used a 1000 times. I think the thermal mass and contact with the chicken cavity speeds cooking times and the steam and moisture keep it juicy while the base plate keeps the bottom and legs from burning. No, I don't always use beer and if I do it's always some that a guest left in the fridge.

The results are always the similar.......

 

[Libertarian]

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/debunking_beer_can_chicken.html

Thoughts?

I have to admit I used to do a lot of beer-can chicken but have found that I like spatchcocked chicken better... plus it cooks faster.

Beer-can chicken is for those people who haven't discovered spatchcock chicken. Butterfly your chicken and grill it flat on an elevated grid over direct heat. You will have the best chicken you've ever eaten. Beer can chicken is so 2005.

 

[garbageman59]

Beer can chicken is so 2005.

WTF is wrong with 2005? I'd go back in a heart beat. I want my big block daily driver back and can't stomach it with $4 gas!

 

[HoosierTrooper]

I insert the empty beer can holder into the cavity and lay the birds flat with the open business end facing the firebox on my little Char-Griller. My best chickens come from this method, I believe because the wire racks holds the cavity open and allows the heat and smoke to get inside.

And I agree the whole steaming, swirling beer inside the chicken is a myth.

 

[dfaarc]

I used to make beer can chicken until I realized there are so many better way to make chicken. It is such a waste to use beer for anything other than drinking.