All I hear about when I talk about grilling chicken is Beer Can Chicken.  It’s all the rage right now.  I’ve always wanted to try it.  It looks absolutely delicious and juicy.  However, since I live in a rental with just a tiny slab of concrete for outdoor living space, I only have a tiny charcoal hibachi on which to do my outdoor cooking.  Obviously I cannot make Beer Can Chicken on this tiny grill so I came up with a slightly different alternative.  The outcome was a juicy, smokey, flavorful dish that almost brought my husband to tears (because it was so delicious.  He can be emotional over food).

Beer Marinated Butterfly Chicken

(My recipe)

3 bottles of beer (a darker beer like an ale would be best)

one bulb of garlic (that’s a whole head, folks!)

1 Tblsp. salt

1/2 Tblsp. black pepper

1 6-7 lb. whole chicken, butterflied

First of all, clean your chicken after you have taken it out of its packaging.  Check for any stray feathers and quills and give it a good rinsing under the faucet.  Pat it dry and get ready to do some cutting.  Butterflying a chicken is really easy, just make sure your knife is adequately sharp or else you’re going to cut your bloody finger off!

Just sit the chicken up on it’s little butt and turn it so that you are looking at it’s back.  You are going to need to cut the backbone out, so just feel with your fingers for where it is and start from the top and work your way down.  You’re mainly going to be cutting through little rib bones so it’s not terribly difficult, just be careful.

It comes out pretty clean.  Don’t throw away that backbone, though!  Save it for chicken stock!

The next thing you want to do is lay the chicken down flat so that the inside is facing you.  Feel for the bone right in the center of the breast and knick it with your knife near the top.  Then simply use your hands to split it (the bone) down the middle.

Once the bone has split, use your fingers to pull out the breast and rib bones so that the breasts are bone-free.  And now you have butterflied a chicken.  Congratulations!  Now wash everything with hot soapy water and make sure there is not a single drop of raw chicken juice anywhere!  Wash your hands and make sure you get under your fingernails as well (if you have any).  Gotta make sure you are very careful when working with raw poultry.

Now, mince all of the cloves from an entire bulb of garlic and place them in a large container.  Add the three bottles of beer and salt and pepper and mix well.  Add the chicken, skin side up, into the marinade and swish about to get things mixed.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

When you retrieve this for cooking the next day, I must warn you…..there is going to be a hell of a smell coming from that bowl.  That entire head of garlic along with that strong beer makes for a strong odor!  It’s not a bad odor, just really really strong.  Don’t worry, though.  Marinades are supposed to be strong.

Now, when it comes to charcoal grills, the best accessory is the charcoal chimney (that doo hickey on the left).  Simply fill the tall part with charcoal, stuff the bottom with newspaper or kindling and light it.  The kindling being on the bottom and burning will get the charcoal going without the aid of lighter fluid, which is good because if you use lighter fluid, the food can tend to taste..well, like lighter fluid.  Don’t dump the coals into your grill until they are mostly white (at this point they are HOT HOT HOT).  Once you have dumped the coals into the grill, run inside and prepare the chicken for grilling!

Now certainly you know that you should have had the chicken setting out to come close to room temperature for at least 15 minutes before you were going to grill it, right?  Ok, good.  Now pat the chicken dry with a paper towel, brush the skin lightly with some olive oil and sprinkle the skin with some paprika.  The paprika isn’t for flavoring, it adds a gorgeous color though.  Once this has been accomplished, lay your chicken on the grill skin down and cook for at least 8 minutes per side (depending on the heat of your grill).  Turn once and make sure to keep the lid closed during cooking.

When the chicken is done cooking, let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.  You won’t have to do much cutting.  If you didn’t overcook the chicken, it will be falling apart and juicy.

What we ended up with was an extremely juicy and tender chicken that was very savory due to the marinade but not really tasting too heavily of either the garlic or the beer.  It was delicious.  I hope you can try this and show it off to some friends.  Enjoy!