Beer Can Chicken - Shots fired

[mountainsmoker]

For Meathead only, in response to your comments:

1. I called no one a Turkey. I was stating that I had read all his recipes but was only down thru turkeys on yours. "

I am down through Turkey's on here and hae gone thru all of SR recipes on his online site which is more extensive. "
Please rescind your post in my messages. It was uncalled for.

2. So what if he went to the original LCB. Does it matter if he went to the original?

3. Wow, beer can't steam at 160 degrees, modern scientific break through. but it sure can at 265 and higher where I cook my chickens. Sitting it on that plate will get it up to temp fast. Also I feel that you are missing the concept of condensation and the basting of the meat as the steam condenses and bastes the meat running down the insides, does it all no but a part will.

[Willy]

With all due respect, you aren't understanding the "chicken acts as a coozy" idea. It don't matter how hot your grill is, the beer won't get warmer than the cavity of the chicken.

[pkadare]

For Meathead only, in response to your comments:

3. Wow, beer can't steam at 160 degrees, modern scientific break through. but it sure can at 265 and higher where I cook my chickens. Sitting it on that plate will get it up to temp fast. Also I feel that you are missing the concept of condensation and the basting of the meat as the steam condenses and bastes the meat running down the insides, does it all no but a part will. [/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]

If the beer were to get up to 212 degrees then your chicken would be way over done. Speaking of done, I'm pretty much done with you.

[mountainsmoker]

Fine the temp of the chicken has nothing to do with the steam. Does cooking the outside of the chicken at 265 make the outside overcooked. Come on let's be realistic.

This post was for Meathead only.

[pkadare]

Then you should have private messaged him rather than posting it here where everyone can read it and respond to it. If the interior of the chicken got hot enough to boil the beer, your chicken would be over cooked. Ever stick a thermometer into a beer can when the cook is complete? I have, and it is no where near the boiling point.

[Meathead]

mountainsmoker You wrote "I am down through Turkey's on here" which I misread to be another slam at our members since you have a track record of disparaging others and forced us to ask you to tone it down. We are all on high alert. It was not clear that you meant you had reviewed all recipes up to turkey. My apologies.

As I explain in the article on Beer Can Chicken, the beer can and the chicken are a single thermal mass. The chicken comes out of the fridge at about 38F. It wraps around the can. It is a essentially chicken coozie, insulating the beer. The beer cannot get hotter than the wet cold chicken wrapped around it, and our tests prove this. In fact it is usually cooler than the chicken since all but the bottom of the can is so far from the warm air. So if the chicken is removed at about 160F the beer is about 155F.

About SR, you said "he is a Cordon Blue trained chef". My point about LCB and other culinary schools is that when I taught at the Chicago branch of LCB 20 years ago the instructors tended to rely on traditional methods. I suspect that Raichlen was a student in Paris even before then. French chefs at LCB in those days probably were not much into digital thermometers, digital scales, meat science, and other info that has only begun to influence modern chefs in the past 10 years. So he is not rooted in those studies as are so many nerds like me. That could explain why he (and you?) do not understand that the beer can does nothing to improve the flavor of the chicken. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Fact.

I think he (or whoever wrote the article) has guts to pull back on his original beliefs. And I understand why he has trouble abandoning them altogether.

BTW, I agree, SR has a lot of great ideas, especially when it comes to inventing recipes and creating flavors.

[Meathead]

Other members have communicated with me privately to say the misread the turkeys comment.

[Huskee]

I encourage anyone who wonders if BCC is good or the best or terrible or whatever, to try one *side by side with a spatchcocked chicken* at the same time, only then can you make the decision. Don't blindly follow AmazingRibs.com or Steven Reichlen when it's something you can test yourself, try it yourself for real (This of course excludes matters relating to a nature of safety, such as curing amounts).

I have! I did one years ago before I even knew AR, and it was delicious except the inside was soft and not brown and I only ever did one. And I made a mess pulling the (hot) beer can out. It was not cool. But the outside of the chicken was delicious. NOTHING tasted like beer, not even the soft tan interior. I even told my wife it was more hassle than it's worth and I should just drink beer with the chicken and she agreed.

Meathead's recommendation is on simple logic, SR's is on 'it's fun' and tradition, and of course a financial interest. You be the judge.

[Attjack]

Agreed. I think the main thing is that a can is a vertical chicken roaster that costs less than a dollar.

[JimLinebarger]

Also, another test could be one beer can chicken and another empty beer can chicken and see if there is a difference.

[surfdog]

Thus the reason for my purchasing a vertical roaster...
On the gasser it’s a rotisserie with either the integrated smoke box or a smoke tube.
On the charcoal it’s a vertical roaster.
No muss, no fuss, and no reason to waste a good beer. And if it wasn’t a good beer I wouldn’t bother.

[klflowers]

All I wanted to do was to buy the cool looking SR vertical beer can chicken roaster. Now I am looking at a pbc and probably trying to sleep on it when the wife puts me out.

[surfdog]

Get a vertical roaster, be done with it, and sleep well...in your bed instead of the sofa. ;-)
Or a rotisserie if your grill can take one.

[pkadare]

klflowers - Probably best for all concerned that you do not know. :-)

[HouseHomey]

I say go for the Ranch kettle

[Michael Brinton]

I'm a big Steve Raichlen fan. The tested, scientific, ideas in food, modernist, amazing ribs, genuine ideas, Harold McGee approach... just isn't for everyone. The amazing ribs train of thought has improved my cooking to a level that impresses everyone I've ever had the pleasure to cook for. But when I start to explain why.... rolled eyes, boredom, lost interest. Especially if someone raises an objection to a point... ugh... I'll cut up a chicken, salt the pieces overnight, sous vide the breast to 147 (remove the breast skin and dehydrate in the oven until crispy), smoke the leg quarters to 175 and drizzle with Alabama white sauce... and when someone reaches for seconds and says, "you ever try beer-can-chicken?" Smile and say, "No, but that sounds great I'll have to make it sometime."

[HouseHomey]

I like my chicken cooked in Lard.

[ComfortablyNumb]

Me too, right after I boil it.

[ofelles]

Carnitas with the other, other white meat?

[TNPIGBBQ]

I think this guy is really on to something!!!

When I was in school I also learned the scientific method the same way as him,

Step 1: State hypothesis with far to many disparate variables for the test to have any meaning.
Step 2: Provide scientific laws that conclusively states your hypothesis is incorrect no matter what controls you put in place
Step 3: Double check to make sure your hypothesis could not challenge these laws
Step 4: Share your feelings on the matter
Step 5: Weight these subjective perceptions/biases greater than or equal to scientific law
Step 6: Congratulate yourself on successfully proving your hypothesis
Step 7: Use this successful test to push a product you have a financial interest in

And that's how Science happens!