Beer Can Chicken

"Beer Can Chicken" may sound rather pedestrian and somewhat unsophisticated, but that sentiment is quickly erased when this down home deliciousness is appreciated for it's own unique goodness. The yeast and hop essences of beer marinate and mingle with the chicken while the natural juices baste the chicken creating crispy skin and a uniformly golden brown color.  This BBQ favorite really should not be overlooked!

Nan has made beer can chicken many times, mostly at the urging of my brother who really loves it prepared this way (as do I)!  She has a gas fueled grill which is hard wired into the natural gas line at her house, therefore, there is no worries about the propane gas tank running out of juice mid way through the cooking process. Lucky Nan has an endless supply of cooking fuel with no tank!  For this 6 lb bird, Nan seasoned it up with a dry BBQ rub and placed it over a 1/2 filled (or emptied depending on how you look at it) can of beer which was inserted into one of those beer can chicken pedestal you can purchase in most lawn and garden sections of the store.  We placed it on the grill over indirect heat and cooked it for approximately 1 1/4 hours or until an instant read thermometer indicates it is cooked through.  When it was gorgeously browned all over and cooked through we removed it from the grill and let it rest for about 30 minutes before carving.  Be careful not to spill what is left inside the beer can when you remove the chicken from the grill and from the beer pedestal by keeping it upright until the chicken is pulled free.

As I have said many times before, Nan makes a fabulous potato salad and it happens to be one of those dishes that appears frequently on the summertime side dish rotation, so here it is again for those of you who missed it before.  As you also know (if you pay attention), where there is potato salad there is also the sweet and sour green bean salad.

The final addition to this spectacular Sunday meal was jalapeno corn bread. Nan made it from a plain corn bread mix in a cast iron skillet but, as with all dishes Nan prepares, she put her stamp on it with the addition of some chopped pickled jalapenos.  The sweet corn bread was definitely given some deserved personality with the tangy little flavor bursts!