Now that I have a fancy schmancy new convection oven I have been dying to make some "Beer Can Chicken."
First got an all natural no hormone chicken from Publix - their GreenWise brand. I got some Shiner Bock beer. (It came in a 6 pack box of the right size cans. Since we don't really tend to drink a lot of beer I didn't want to get a big 12 or 24 pack and I wanted to try something new. You have to drink 1/2 the can - (It's in the recipe, I had to do it!) so its good to get a beer you will like. Shiner Bock seems to be a sort of halfway beetween an ale and a dark beer. It has a light taste, but you can taste the hops and yeast. Very nice.
I have a cheapie beer can chicken cooker thingy I got from Big Lots last year. It basically helps hold up the can - nothing fancy. I put it all in another oven proof pan so I could use the drippings to make gravy. Oh god that was some good gravy.
I washed and dried the bird, then I rubbed a mix of kosher salt, Hungarian paprika, garlic powder, and different kinds of fresh ground pepper all over it. I set the oven to convection bake at 425 and when it came up to temperature I put in the chicken with a meat thermometer in it. I like having the meat thermometer because it takes the guesswork out of when your bird is done. A meat thermomter is a cheap item that is useful over and over and doesn't take up much space in your drawer.
In my new oven, the chicken cooked in just over an hour. It came out so yummy! I made a simple gravy with the pan dripping - just adding some corn starch, a buillion/seasoning packet from Trader Joes, and some water. Easy peasy. I served up this lovely tender chicken with rice and green beans.
