Part II
Now on to
part 2, since the first part I tried a couple of others. So I added one of them
that I felt came out great. Now keep in mind as I have continually said in past
posts, just because it cold out is no reason to put the grill away in storage.
Use it all year, after all it is fire and last I checked fire beats snow and cold.
Plus your neighbors will think you’re crazy, which is also fun. So here we go
the next one. For this one I used 6 point Sweet Action which is a nice hearty
cream ale that has some orange and honey notes with a mild bitterness. I
thought that this would be a good spot to do one with a BBQ seasoning mix. It’s
a really simple mix that you can use on just about anything from chicken to
pork to beef.
BBQ Seasoning Mix
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. dark
chili powder
1 Tbsp. Paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp
cayenne pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 clove
garlic minced
1 tsp tomato
paste
1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp black pepper
Mix everything
together in a food processor and rub it all over the chicken. A side note here
in regards to the tomato paste. One great tool or short cut is to get one of
the tubes of tomato paste (they are similar to a toothpaste tube that you can
find generally with your Italian/international aisle in most if not every grocery
store) instead of getting a can. It’s a little more expensive but you don’t
have leftover tomato paste in your fridge that you end up throwing out anyway. With
the tube you can use as much or as little as you need, put the cap back on and
it lasts for a good long time. Just don’t mistake it for your toothpaste,
because that could be weird and pretty unpleasant.
Cooking instructions
are on the first installment of this 2 parter. On to the next one which I used
Arcadia Wit Sun but any Belgian Wit or “wheat beer” (look for lighter wheat
beer with coriander and/or orange peel in them) will work. I used this one
because of its availability to me. Other ones that can work well with this one
are Bell’s Oberon, Avery White Rascal, Revolution Bottom up, or one from your
local area that you like. For this I did something similar to a Coastal French/Provencal
rub. Fresh herbs, garlic-type rub.
Herb Rub
¼ c. olive oil (The type is up to you)
3 cloves
garlic minced
1 shallot
minced
1/4 c. fresh thyme, chopped
¼ c. fresh
Rosemary, chopped
¼ c. fresh
oregano, chopped
½ c. fresh
flat leaf parsley, chopped
Juice and
zest of ½ lemon
Salt and
pepper
The best way
to do this one to get everything chopped fine is in a food processor, rub the
mix on the outside of the bird and use the same cooking instructions as the
others.
This one is
a late addition to my experiments and an easy one to boot. Not that
the others were hard but for this one I kind of cheated and it came out great.
For the final one, in the now 5 types, of beer can chicken I did a Harissa rubbed
chicken. Harissa is a Chili paste used mainly in the Mediterranean coastal
countries of Africa (Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, and Morocco mainly). You can make
this spicy paste on your own or do as I did and purchase a pre-made one (the
cheating part). You can find good Harissa at most Mediterranean or Middle
Easter markets or in some better grocery stores. The beer I used for this was
Oskar Blues Dale’s pale ale. The reason being that I wanted something with a
decent hop presence for some nice flavor and aromas but not a high powered APA
or IPA that could have over powered it. The procedure is for this is pretty
simple, as are the others. Rub the outside with the Harissa and use my standard
technique to cook it.
I hope
everyone enjoyed this little bit of experimentation and craziness from me, you
can expand upon my insanity by coming up with your own combos and such, just
remember fails happen it’s not the end of the world, after all it’s just
chicken and beer.
