Beer Can Chicken with Jim Beam Honey Ginger Ale

 

 

This recipe is also known as Drunken Chicken; either way it looks fairly undignified for the poor chook!

 

It's also more of a concept than a recipe - a way to cook roast chicken that makes it really moist and tender and gives it a hint of flavour from the drink - though don't worry, you don't end up with a chicken that tastes of beer! I used a can of ginger ale rather than beer - which had Jim Beam honey in it - giving a lovely gingery, slightly sweet flavour. In fact while I haven't tried it with beer (as per the recipe I found) I think this way is a lot better!

  

Your chicken will take the same amount of time as normal to roast so check the packet - usually about 20 mins per 500g plus an extra 20 mins but don't take my word for that. Preheat the oven and make sure there aren't any giblets inside the chicken cavity.

 

Open your beer can or ginger ale can and drink or pour out a little so the can is about 3/4 full. Rather unceremoniously up-end the chicken so the beer can stands up inside the cavity with your chicken upright on top!

 

 

 

Roast until the juices run clear. The steam from the liquid in the can will almost steam the chicken from the inside while it roasts on the outside (I'd advise you throw away what's left in the can - I know some people make gravy from meat juices but in this case the can will have what's dripped from directly inside the chicken... not fat that comes from roasting the skin).

 

I had to take the middle shelf out of my oven so it would fit. It does look quite funny, doesn't it?

 

 

 

Carefully remove the can from the chicken and carve the chicken as normal to serve - a bit unconventional I admit, but delicious!

 

 

Non-alcoholic Drinks for Barbecue

When I’ve had friends over for barbecues recently the most popular drinks have been non-alcoholic ones. I put that down to a myriad of reasons: when it’s really hot, people want to quench their thirst with something they can drink quickly without getting tipsy right away; some people are driving; some people are tee-total (yes really!) and one is pregnant. Also, the drinks I made look and taste great!

 

I already posted the recipe for this non-alcoholic mojito; here are two other ideas.

 

Strawberry Iced Tea

 

I had some strawberry-flavour tea bags and made them up with a little sweetener (Splenda), waited until it had cooled and added more water, some ice cubes and some fresh strawberries.

 

Ginger and Cranberry Fizz

 

This one is also very easy to make and tastes lovely. I had a bottle of ginger beer left over that someone bought to a previous barbecue, and as I don’t like ginger beer I wasn’t suer what to do with it. I also had a carton of cranberry juice in the fridge so I mixed the two together in roughly equal quantities and added some fresh mint leaves. Delicious!