Need help - Fried Chicken

I smoke all my chickens, but this may be something worth trying.
 
Yes...I also argue whether the contents of the can actually add to the flavor. The two biggest advantages of the can is to keep the chicken standing up and to keep the internal moisture inside the body cavity up (which helps prevent the cooking from driving the meat's moisture out from the inside). I've not noticed any changes in cooking time, though I suppose if you made an effort to actually provide a steaming environment internally, it MIGHT do so. 212 degree steam internally would help drive the core temperature of the meat up to 165 degrees faster. Maybe I'll look into that...

Also, I only use about half a can, not a full can.

This has given me some ideas I'd like to try...

The experimenting is half the fun.
 
Sounds good. Never thought about bringing some smoke to the party.

I usually wet brine my chicken for 48 hours, then soak in buttermilk for at least 12 hours. Dredge in seasoned flour (11 herbs and spices) and rest on rack over sheet pan for 20 mins or so then fry in lard.

I am from the South ya' know.

Edit: I almost forgot the important part. Fry the chicken to golden brown then move to 350 deg oven on a sheet pan/rack set up to finish cooking. This prevents burnt outside/raw inside syndrome.
The buttermilk is essential as is the lard.
 
IMO the only value in the beer can is in standing up the chicken. The contents can’t steam it enough to do any good. They are basically trapped in the chicken’s cavity. Better to use a rack to stand up the chicken and a large drip pan underneath with your liquid steaming agent. I find it takes more than a can of beer for each cook. I like beer with some onions and garlic. But to each their own.
Just for conversation sake,,I have a "chicken stander" Its a stainless steel chicken holder that you can put a beer can into and then you shove the whole chicken onto.. I noticed that with out the beer can , the meat is drier then if I use one..What I do is drink half the beer, then using a can opener open up the can it self.Then stuff Rosemary, sage and thyme into the beer can. Then when its done cooking, just tip the holder onto its side and pull the can out and let all the liquid run into a deep serving bowl. Then cut up the chicken allowing the pieces soak in the liquid that filled with all that cooked off chick fat and the spices and herbs..Yeah I know,, sounds a heart attack on a plate, but Im still alive..
 
Just for conversation sake,,I have a "chicken stander" Its a stainless steel chicken holder that you can put a beer can into and then you shove the whole chicken onto.. I noticed that with out the beer can , the meat is drier then if I use one..What I do is drink half the beer, then using a can opener open up the can it self.Then stuff Rosemary, sage and thyme into the beer can. Then when its done cooking, just tip the holder onto its side and pull the can out and let all the liquid run into a deep serving bowl. Then cut up the chicken allowing the pieces soak in the liquid that filled with all that cooked off chick fat and the spices and herbs..Yeah I know,, sounds a heart attack on a plate, but Im still alive..

Sure it's drier. But if you use a drip pan you can have more liquid to steam, covering more of the chicken and add more flavors. If the beer can technique was really good you see competition cooks and restaurants using it. There are better ways to get a good chicken. Try a spatchcock chicken with a drip pan. Even just a pan of water on a cooker will get you the same or better results.
 
Sure it's drier. But if you use a drip pan you can have more liquid to steam, covering more of the chicken and add more flavors. If the beer can technique was really good you see competition cooks and restaurants using it. There are better ways to get a good chicken. Try a spatchcock chicken with a drip pan. Even just a pan of water on a cooker will get you the same or better results.

Or simply roasting it in the oven. There is nothing better than a roasted chicken with a some aromatics in the cavity coated in butter, salt and pepper. Cook it over assorted vegetables in a roasting pan. Simple and elegant.

The beer can chicken thing is a best a gimmick at its worst it is dangerous. The beer potentially never gets out of the danger zone and becomes a place where bacteria can reproduce and insulates the meat near the ribs potentially leaving it under cooked. There is a not real benefit to this method. The beer in the can never boils. There is some release of aromatics but it is not in contact with enough surface area to penetrate into the meat. At best the top of the inside cavity has taken on some flavor but not the whole chicken. There is simply not enough surface area.

As @CZfool68 said spatchcocking a chicken is a much better way to go on the grill or in a smoker. Much more even controlled cooking with more surface area for flavor transfer. Drip pans are useful for long cooks but their usefulness is often a point of dispute. I personally think that they do not hurt but I am not sure they help as much as people think they do. Chickens are a fast cook relative to a brisket and really does not need to be made complicated IMHO.




https://amazingribs.com/tested-reci...beer-inferior-cooking-technique-and-dangerous
 
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Or simply roasting it in the oven. There is nothing better than a roasted chicken with a some aromatics in the cavity coated in butter, salt and pepper. Cook it over assorted vegetables in a roasting pan. Simple and elegant.

The beer can chicken thing is a best a gimmick at its worst it is dangerous. The beer potentially never gets out of the danger zone and becomes a place where bacteria can reproduce and insulates the meat near the ribs potentially leaving it under cooked. There is a not real benefit to this method. The beer in the can never boils. There is some release of aromatics but it is not in contact with enough surface area to penetrate into the meat. At best the top of the inside cavity has taken on some flavor but not the whole chicken. There is simply not enough surface area.

As @CZfool68 said spatchcocking a chicken is a much better way to go on the grill or in a smoker. Much more even controlled cooking with more surface area for flavor transfer. Drip pans are useful for long cooks but their usefulness is often a point of dispute. I personally think that they do not hurt but I am not sure they help as much as people think they do. Chickens are a fast cook relative to a brisket and really does not need to be made complicated IMHO.




https://amazingribs.com/tested-reci...beer-inferior-cooking-technique-and-dangerous


The grill/smoker I am using dictates if and how I use a drip pan. Indirect on the Green Egg usually calls for a drip pan as the chicken grease falls on the stone separating the chicken from the hot coals while cooking indirect and causes burned, smokey grease. That adds too much nasty smoke flavor. On my smoker at our cabin I just place a pan of water in the cooker to add some moisture. Or baste. No need for a drip pan. When I spatchcock on the Egg it is a quicker, hotter cook and needs no drip pan. Although I have used one and cooked it lower and slower, but I am not sure it really made the chicken any better.
 
Uhhhh...

The beer never gets out of the danger zone? Bacteria?

Beer never starts in the danger zone... and if you've got bacteria problems, you ain't cooking your chicken enough.

???
 
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The grill/smoker I am using dictates if and how I use a drip pan. Indirect on the Green Egg usually calls for a drip pan as the chicken grease falls on the stone separating the chicken from the hot coals while cooking indirect and causes burned, smokey grease. That adds too much nasty smoke flavor. On my smoker at our cabin I just place a pan of water in the cooker to add some moisture. Or baste. No need for a drip pan. When I spatchcock on the Egg it is a quicker, hotter cook and needs no drip pan. Although I have used one and cooked it lower and slower, but I am not sure it really made the chicken any better.
Im a big fan of spatchcocked bird on my smoker with a good amount of dry rub on it.. Hit it pretty hard with hickory or peach because it wont take long to cook. Usually do bird at 375-400 to get a crispy skin, the low and slow just gets me rubbery skin which really does not appeal to me.
 
Sure it's drier. But if you use a drip pan you can have more liquid to steam, covering more of the chicken and add more flavors. If the beer can technique was really good you see competition cooks and restaurants using it. There are better ways to get a good chicken. Try a spatchcock chicken with a drip pan. Even just a pan of water on a cooker will get you the same or better results.
Know what I like best about the beer can chicken ? The whole entire bird is elevated and browned evenly and there is no " Bottom" that gets under browned or that lays in the swill. I will toothpick the neck skin to form a seal that forces any moisture from the beer can and its herbs to stay inside the bird cavity and have good results.. While a bird on the smoker might taste better, this is darn close and its a whole lot easier since its done in the oven.
 
OK...I finally watched that video with meathead.

He has the can shoved too far up the chicken's butt, so of COURSE he will have the problems he mentioned.

PLUS he'll have problems getting the chicken to stand up on the grill.

Leave the can sticking out about 2 inches or so. The chicken will remain standing easily and plenty of can will be exposed to heat to increase the temperature of the beer inside quite efficiently.

You don't treat the beer can like stuffing, just because you stick it up the chicken's butt! Sheesh!
 
OK...I finally watched that video with meathead.

He has the can shoved too far up the chicken's butt, so of COURSE he will have the problems he mentioned.

PLUS he'll have problems getting the chicken to stand up on the grill.

Leave the can sticking out about 2 inches or so. The chicken will remain standing easily and plenty of can will be exposed to heat to increase the temperature of the beer inside quite efficiently.

You don't treat the beer can like stuffing, just because you stick it up the chicken's butt! Sheesh!

Didn't watch the video. With that being said if @RetiredUSNChief is trying to call out Meathead Goldberg he has gone a bridge too far! Meathead is a meat cooking genius. You should go to church today and beg foregiveness of your sin. Or all your future cooks may turn out dry and flavorless. :eek:
 
Didn't watch the video. With that being said if @RetiredUSNChief is trying to call out Meathead Goldberg he has gone a bridge too far! Meathead is a meat cooking genius. You should go to church today and beg foregiveness of your sin. Or all your future cooks may turn out dry and flavorless. :eek:

If that's an example of meathead's culinary genius, I got some meat he can hunker down and get serious with...

;)
 
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