Beer Can Chicken

Can Texas take credit for the invention of “Beer Can Chicken”? And, if Texas could take credit, why would it?
 
Who could possibly think of cooking a chicken with a can of beer up its butt?
 
 
Food Network
Beer Can Chicken
Recipe courtesy Bob Blumer
Show:  The Surreal Gourmet
Episode:  Thrilling Grilling    
Q) Why did the chicken cross the road? A) Because it couldn’t remember where it left its beer
 
1 (4-pound) whole chicken
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons of your favorite dry spice rub
1 can beer
 
Remove neck and giblets from chicken and discard. Rinse chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. Rub chicken lightly with oil then rub inside and out with salt, pepper and dry rub. Set aside.
Open beer can and take several gulps (make them big gulps so that the can is half full). Place beer can on a solid surface. Grabbing a chicken leg in each hand, plunk the bird cavity over the beer can. Transfer the bird-on-a-can to your grill and place in the center of the grate, balancing the bird on its 2 legs and the can like a tripod.
Cook the chicken over medium-high, indirect heat (i.e. no coals or burners on directly under the bird), with the grill cover on, for approximately 1 1/4 hours or until the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F in the breast area and 180 degrees F in the thigh, or until the thigh juice runs clear when stabbed with a sharp knife. Remove from grill and let rest for 10 minutes before carving. 
 
(OCLC WorldCat record)
Title: Beer-can chicken: and 74 other offbeat recipes for the grill
Author: Raichlen, Steven.
Publication: New York : Workman Pub., 2002
Document: English : Book
 
Google Groups: rec.food.cooking
From:  Bob Patton
Date:  Fri, Aug 25 1995 12:00 am
 
In article <41jc3j$...@gryphon.phoenix.net>, Nick Nicholls

wrote:
> I’ve rubbed honey a few times on my chickens and they’ve always come out
> brown and nicely roasted.
> Monica Nicholls
 
1.  Drink a 16 oz. can of your favorite beer.
2.  Rinse the can.
3.  Fill the can 1/3 full with your favorite wine
4.  Take a whole chicken and spray it with Pam inside and out
5.  Season it inside and out with Rotisserie Seasoning (purchased at Sam’s Wholesale Club)
6.  Shove the top of the can into the big cavity of the chicken, making a support for the chicken to stand up on.
7.  Place “beer can chicken” on a baking sheet.
8.  Bake upright on the lowest oven rack at 350 - 375° for 1 hr. 15 min to 1 hr. 30 min.
9.  Remove from oven, remove and discard the can.
10.  The skin will be crisp yet the meat very moist.  Enjoy!
 
25 June 1993, Houston (TX) Chronicle, “The Ritz of pits/Houston brothers smoke the competition” by Steven Long, Food, pg. 1:
Well, way back in ‘73, four brothers - Wayne and Lawrence Whitworth and their half-brothers, Raymond and Dickie Hartis - decided to make a go with a sheet-metal business. Sheet-metal parts were in high demand at the time, being used to make parts used by an oil industry going like gangbusters.

Every now and then, they’d mold some of that sheet metal into a barbecue pit for their friends. These weren’t your run-of-the-mill pits; they were heavy-duty setups made of high-quality parts and custom-designed.

Well, word of those pits spread and spread, even though the boys weren’t exactly giving them away. To tell the truth, those pits were pretty pricey.

So when the day came that the oil patch went and dried up, the boys focused their attention on those BBQ pits. In 1983 they opened up a retail store. They called it Pitt’s & Spitt’s.
(...)
When Bush left the White House, he invited Whitworth to his home here in Houston.

”“Me and my brother Raymond gave him a few helpful hints,’’ Whitworth said, including how to smoke a chicken.

”“It’s called beer-can chicken,’’ Whitworth laughed. ““You fill a beer can with about a half can of beer and a half can of water, throw in some chopped onion and some spices, then insert the can in the chicken’s cavity.’‘

The bird is then perched upright on the can and slow-smoked. The brew in the can keeps the meat moist.
 
1 June 1994, Washington Post, “Hog-Wild in Memphis” by Steven Raichlen, pg. E1:
BEER CAN CHICKEN
(Makes 4 to 5 servings)
This offbeat recipe makes the most succulent barbecued chicken I’ve ever tasted. The secret: An open can of beer is inserted into the cavity of the bird, which is cooked upright. Besides being incredibly tender, the bird makes a great conversation piece. The recipe comes from the Bryce Boar Blazers of Texas.

4-to-5-pound chicken

FOR THE DRY RUB:
1 tablespoon seasoning salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Salt and black pepper to taste

TO SMOKE:
1 jar of Cajun Injector+ seasoning (optional)
1 can of beer (the Blazers use Budweiser++)
1/2 to 1 cup mesquite chips, soaked in cold water for 1 hour
 
Remove any fat lumps in the cavity. Wash chicken well; blot dry. Combine the dry rub ingredients and season the bird inside and out.

If using Cajun Injector, load the syringe and inject 1 tablespoon sauce into each breast, leg and thigh.

Pop the tab off the beer can. Using a “church key”-style can opener, make 6 or 7 holes in the top of the can. Spoon any remaining dry rub through the holes into the beer. Stand the chicken upright and insert the beer can into the cavity. Spread out the legs to form a sort of tripod, so the bird stands upright.

Place the chicken in a smoker or a grill set up as a smoker (see instructions at the bottom of Page E10). Smoke-cook the chicken for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until fall-off-the-bone tender. Serve the chicken upright on the beer can on a platter.

+ Note: Cajun Injector is a bottled basting mixture. If unavailable, you can use the Crispy Critter basting mixture below or omit it entirely.
++ Budweiser does not officially endorse this use of its beer or beer can.
Per serving: 1102 calories, 122 gm protein, 5 gm carbohydrates, 60 gm fat, 17 gm saturated fat, 486 mg cholesterol, 1784 mg sodium