This is a great method to cook a chicken to carve and eat it as a whole chicken, or pull the chicken for other uses such as enchiladas, chicken pot pie, chicken salad, etc.
Ingredients
1 Whole Chicken
Meat Church The Gospel AP Rub
1 beer (I prefer light and cheap for this cook), room temp
1 head of garlic cloves
1 T, olive oil (sub cooking spray or mayo) to act as a binder
1/2 stick butter for basting
Various herbs for stuffing the can. We use rosemary, thyme & parsley
Tools
Instant Read Thermometer
Beer Can Chicken throne (you can also just use the beer can but that doesn't always work perfect depending on the size of the chicken and could fall over)
Available at
Fleet-Plummer!
Meat Church
The Gospel Available at Fleet-Plummer!
Instructions
1. Prepare smoker or pellet grill. Prepare your smoker at 350. I prefer a medium smoking wood such as hickory or pecan wood, but you have a lot of options with a protein like chicken.
2. Rinse & dry the chicken thoroughly. Apply a binder to help the seasoning adhere. We spray our chicken with Duck Fat cooking spray.
3. Season liberally with The Gospel. It's a great idea to apply seasoning under the skin as well. Skin is easily separated from the bird during cooking or even when eating. Applying seasoning to the meat will deliver a better tasting bite.
4. Prepare the beer. Start with a room temp beer. Remove the top of the beer with a can opener and remove 1/3 - 1/2 of the beer. Warm the beer up in the can for a few mins on the smoker. Don't cook with a cold beer as it will causes the middle of the chicken to take longer to cook and potentially be dangerous. Place 1 more T of seasoning in the can. Add garlic and your choice of herbs to act as an aromatic. Place the can in the throne & then place the chicken on that throne.
5. Place the bird upright in your cooker. A 5.5 lb bird will take approximately 90 minutes. Baste with melted butter 1-2 times during the cook. I start at the 45 minute mark. This builds flavors and adds richness and moisture.
If you choose to sauce, apply that in the last few minutes of the cook so the sugar in the sauce doesn't burn. We apply 3:1 Meat Mitch Whomp sauce to clover honey when the chicken reaches 155 degrees internal. This can be checked with your instant read thermometer. We are ultimately targeting 160 degrees internal in the deepest part of the breast. The chicken will continue to carry over cook another few degrees. When you have reached this temperature pull the chicken, let it cool then remove from the throne.
Carve and enjoy!