Beer can chicken a la Julia Child
Steve and I made roast chicken with vegetables on Monday night. He had a left over can of Blue from post-hockey so we decided on beer can chicken. I went to look up the method for oven cooking (he uses the BBQ during the summer) and sadly realized I have been depriving you, the reader, of this recipe. I feel ashamed 🙁
Start by moving your rack to the bottom rung and removing the top rack, so there is room for the bird. We are using a 4lb (1.8kg) whole chicken. Then begin preheating your oven to 425F. If you have an energy efficient one like ours, the preheating process takes so long, you’ll have time to prep everything else.
Open and pour out the beer so you can cut the top 1/3 off the can. Steve used a serrated knife this time, cardboard cutter in the past. Add in a smashed garlic clove, ¼ tsp of cracked pepper and ½ tsp each of garlic and onion powder. Refill it with beer and set aside. Next, assemble your chicken roaster doohickey. My Mom and Dad got me one for Christmas just before we got married and it’s great at balancing the chicken. You also want to line a shallow roasting pan with tin foil for quicker clean up. Line up the cut beer can under the doohickey and center them in the pan. I added my garlic to the doohickey so they don’t dry out and then tossed them in the gravy:
Cut up carrot, celery, onion and garlic cloves (potato also works) and set aside. These will be laid in the roasting pan to cook as a side dish.
In a small dish, combine more spices to taste with 1-2 Tbs of oil. It should form a thin paste that will get rubbed on the chicken skin later.
Rinse and pat dry your chicken. Place the bottom of the chicken over the doohickey, pull the legs forward and tuck the wings behind the bird. Rub the skin with the spice-oil, fill the roasting pan with the veggies and drizzle them with olive oil, and then scrub your hands thoroughly with soap and water.
Double check you moved the bottom rack, and then carefully transfer the pan, with the balanced chicken, into the oven. Roast for 15 minutes at 425F, then reduce the heat to 350 F and continue roasting until done. There is no need to baste the chicken because the beer is steaming it on the inside.
The Julia Child’s formula for roasting chicken is: roast for a total of 45 minutes plus an additional 7 minutes for each pound. It should be 175F in the thigh, then, let cover and let stand for 10 minutes. By this time, the internal temp will be 185F and ready to eat!
In other words, a 4 pound chicken starts with 45 minutes plus an additional 28 minutes, for a total of 1 hour and 13 minutes of cooking time.
While Steve was carving the chicken, I used the fat drippings from the doohickey dish (about ¼ cup), along with 2 Tbs of flour, to make a roux, then added the remaining beer and roasted smashed-garlic to make a gravy. I recommend sautéing thinly sliced mushrooms and adding them (and their liquid) to the gravy. Will do next time.
Results: chicken breast was done after 1 hour, 7 minutes but the legs needed the full cooking time. Next time we will have faith in the timing and leave it in the oven, without checking, until the timer goes. Similarly, veggies need a few more minutes to soften in the microwave with 1 Tbs of water – it was because they were dry roasted without fat because I didn’t realize I needed to drizzle them with oil.
Steve carved the breast meat perfectly and then had a pile of shredded chicken to add to our “left over” stews later this week. It was moist and tasted fantastic when you paired a mouthful with the roasted onion. The sweetness and difference in texture was just delicious.
Bon appetite, as Julia would say!
