Beer Can Chicken

Alright, so I didn't find this recipe in the Mennonite Community Cookbook. But it was my first experience cooking solo on the grill, and most deserving of a blog entry. Actually, Joe had been talking about grilling a beer can chicken for some time, but every time he brought it up, we ran out of time (it takes at least 2 hours on the grill).

For those of you who aren't familiar with the concept, beer can chicken consists of taking a whole roasting chicken and stuffing an open can of beer up its butt cavity, then cooking or grilling it standing up. The beer keeps the chicken moist and tender while cooking - as for flavor, I certainly couldn't detect any beer flavoring in the meat, so for those of you who aren't inclined to buy beer, you could probably use a can of Sprite or juice.

I was a little skeptical of using the grill - I'm quite inexperienced at it, and meat generally falls into Joe's area of cooking expertise. But I had the day off work and he strongly encouraged me to use the grill instead of the oven, giving me a few basic instructions about how to turn it on. I had also just recieved my first copy of Cooking Light (a belated birthday gift from cousin Kathleen) and it contained a recipe for a BBQ sauce to go with the chicken.

By the time Joe got home, the chicken looked and smelled like a masterpiece. Joe, in fact, was impressed and a little intimidated by my grilling prowess! But it tasted delicious - and there were lots of yummy leftovers, not to mention a few cans of beer that we were obligated to drink with dinner :)

Barbecued Beer Can Chicken
1 whole roasting chicken
BBQ Sauce
3 T. ketchup
3 T chili sauce (I used oriental sweet chili sauce)
2 t. worcestershire sauce
1 t. chili powder
1 t. cider vinegar
1/4 t. ground black pepper
1/8 t. salt
1 garlic clove, minced
BBQ Rub
1 T. salt
1 T. black pepper
1 T. sugar
1 T. paprika
Dispose or set aside giblets (I boil for our dog). Rinse and dab dry chicken, including the inside. Work the skin away from the meat of the chicken with your fingers and apply 1 T. BBQ rub directly on the meat of the chicken (but don't remove the skin). Also rub 1 T. on the outside of the chicken and 1 T. inside the cavity. Then spread sauce over and inside chicken. Reserve 1/4 cup of the sauce if you wish to have some leftover for serving w/ chicken (I used all mine). Turn on grill and set to medium heat. Pour out the top inch of the beer and add the remaining 1 T. BBQ rub to the can of beer. Insert beer into the chicken cavity and set chicken on the grill standing up, using legs and can as a tripod. Grill for 2 hours, checking occasionally and applying more BBQ sauce as needed.