Drunken Chicken

Ingredients

  • 1 12-ounce can beer
  • 1 &emdash; 3½ to 4 pound chicken
  • 4 garlic gloves
  • 2 Serrano pepper seeded (if desired)
  • oil
  • 3 tbl Basic Barbecue Rub, recipe follows
  • 2 cups Barbecue Sauce of your choice
  • 4 to 6 cups hickory or apple wood chips, soaked for 1 hour in water to cover, drained

Directions

Pop the tab off the beer can. Make more holes in the can. Pour out half the beer into the soaking water of the wood chips. Set the can of beer aside.

Set up the grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium. If using a charcoal grill, place a large drip pan in the center. If using a gas grill, place all the wood chips in the smoker box or in a smoker pouch and preheat the grill to high until you see smoke, then reduce the heat to medium.

Clean and rinse the chicken inside and out. Blot dry. Oil the whole chicken inside and out. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of the rub inside the body and neck cavities of the chicken. Rub the bird all over on the outside with 2 teaspoons of the rub. You can put some rub under the skin. Try not to tear it.

Spoon the remaining 2 teaspoons of the rub into the beer in the can. It may foam up. Place garlic cloves and Serrano pepper in the can. Insert the beer can into the body cavity of the chicken and spread out the legs to form a sort of tripod. Tuck the wing tips behind the chicken’s back.

When ready to cook, if using a charcoal grill, toss all the wood chips on the coals. Stand the chicken up in the center of the hot grate, over the drip pan and away from the heat. Cover the grill and cook the chicken until the skin is a dark golden brown and very crisp and the meat is cooked to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F, about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours. If using a charcoal grill, you will need to add 12 fresh coals per side after 1 hour.

Using tongs, carefully transfer the chicken in its upright position on the beer can to a platter. Let rest 5 minutes, and then carefully remove the chicken from the beer can. Take care not to spill the hot beer. Quarter or carve the chicken and serve with barbecue sauce.

Basic Barbecue Rub:

  • ¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • ¼ cup sweet paprika
  • 4 Tbl ground black pepper
  • 3 Tbl kosher or sea salt
  • 1 Tbl hickory salt