The shove-the-can-of-beer-up-a-chicken’s-bum recipe has entered my online recipe orbit over the years and I’ve never thought much about it. However, now I can’t stop thinking about it! This will definitely be my go to roast chicken cooking method from now on.
Good George IPA boasts the aroma of lemon, herbs, and fresh cut hay. So I decided on a rosemary, lemon, orange and lime crust to compliment this delicious brew. I stuffed the can of beer with bay leaves, rosemary sprigs and lime. The result? The most fragrant of birds.
Whether you cook it on the BBQ or in the oven, the herby steam from the beer creates the most moist and succulent flesh. And with no part of the chicken actually touching the pan as it cooks, you get an evenly bronzed and crunchy crust, much like an all over tan. AND - because the chook cooks sitting upright you have all that space in the bottom of the pan to fill it up with roasting veggies of your choice. Genius.
Don’t be afraid of using onion and garlic powders. They help form that crunchy crust that is so irresistible you’ll never move the skin to the side of your plate ever again. KFC. Be gone.
THE CHICKEN
3 t finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 t smoked paprika
1 T garlic powder
2 T onion powder
1 lemon, zested
1 orange, zested
1 lime, zested
2 T olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
THE COOK
½ can Good George IPA at room temperature
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 lime, quartered
3 bay leaves
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Take the chook out of the fridge. Pat it dry inside and out with a paper towel or two and leave on the bench for 30 mins to come to room temperature.
Mix the crust ingredients together. Brush the chicken inside and out with olive oil then sprinkle ¾ of the crust ingredients evenly over the outer and inner. Get into all the crevices of the joints then tuck the wings of the chook back on themselves so they sit.
Remove one end of the opened can of Good George IPA. Drink half of it and then heat the other half to boiling, return the can and stuff it full of rosemary, lime and bay leaves.
Pop the can in your Ironclad Legacy Pan and gently push the cavity of the chicken over the can. Push the can ¾’s of the way in. Sprinkle over or pat the remaining crust ingredients to fill in any gaps, adding more olive oil (spray is very handy here) to make it stick, then spray the whole bird lightly. Much like you would use hair spray!
Arrange roasting vegetables and fresh herbs around the base of the chicken. Potatoes can be added at the start of the cook. Pumpkin, kūmara and other shorter roasting veggies can be added half way through the cook. You don’t need to add oil as the chicken fat will drop off the bird and into the pan and provide you with plenty of delicious herby roasting fats.
Depending on the size of your chook, roast for 1 hour to 1 ¼ hours at the bottom of your oven.
Remove the can and serve straight to the table in your Ironclad Pan with a fresh crunchy salad.
And what to wash it all down with?! Good George IPA of course!
