Cook a Chicken With Beer
As opposed to "beer can chicken", this chicken soaks in a beer brine for a long time before cooking, giving it a very earthy, beery taste.
Steps
- Make the brine: Mix together 4-6 cups of water, ½ cup (and some pinches) of salt, ½ cup (and some pinches) of brown sugar, ½ a beer bottle of beer, generous pinch of onion powder, smaller pinch of garlic powder.
- Rinse the chicken under clear tap water.
- Mix all ingredients in a container large enough to accommodate the whole chicken. Place the chicken in the container, breasts side down, and baste it with the surrounding brine. Put the container in the fridge and forget about it. (baste it once in a while)
- Take the chicken out of the brine and dispose of the liquid. (If you choose to use the same container to cook the chicken, rinse and wash it before reusing it.) Rinse the chicken thoroughly, inside and out.
- To complement the chicken, cut half an onion and caramelize it by sautéing lightly in a pan with some butter till it turns a pale brown.
- Take the onions out of the pan, put in a bit of butter and add cut potatoes and carrots. Allow the potatoes and carrots to soak up the caramelized onion flavor and mix all three vegetables.
- Use half of it as chicken stuffing, spread the other half under and around the chicken. Finally, take some soft butter and rub it over the chicken’s breast and thighs. Pour half a bottle of beer on the chicken.
- Preheat the oven the 350 Fahrenheit. Put the chicken in. Check on it once in a while. Sometimes basting it with its own juices, sometimes adding more beer.
- Finished.
Tips
- A brine is a mixture of salt, sugar and water. As long as those three ingredients are present, you can add or remove to taste other ingredients.
- This recipe forgives a lot of mistakes. So feel free to add or remove ingredients.
Things You'll Need
- Water
- Salt
- Brown sugar
- Beer
- Onion powder
- Onions
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Garlic powder
- Chicken
