Beer Bum Chicken #3

Are you a leg or a breast man?  Here comes my Beer Bum Chicken.

Sounds shocking doesn’t it. Beer Bum Chicken. Have you ever had Beer Bum Chicken? If you have not then you are seriously missing out, as this is likely to be the best roast chicken you will ever have. Do you usually roast the pants of your chicken. Does it come out a little dry when finished. Well here is a method to never have that happen again, those days are in the past!

My first experience of this was when we lived in Australia and ate a lot of it during mates ‘barbies’. My great mates in Melbourne, Craig and Mario, put on a fine show cooking three at once with different flavourings – yes there is not ‘one size fits all here’. It’s a ripper, as the Ozzies would say.

It is so easy, and actually quite humorous when preparing it as you’ll see! Maybe not so humorous for the chicken though!!! For this you’ll need follow the same process no matter what size chicken, so pick a chicken for however many people you are feeding. I had a big one as we had 6 to dinner when I made this version of Beer Bum Chicken.

You will need;

• 1 ready to roast chicken;
• 1 bunch of thyme – simply remove the leaves off the woody stalks;
• 1 big can of cider;
• 2 squashed chili padi;
• Some softened butter;
• Sea salt and cracked black pepper;
• 6 garlic cloves again squashed with the side of a knife; and
• Some good quality Olive oil.

Off we go with Beer Bum Chicken;

• Lift the breast skin up and create a sort of pocket on either side of the breast bone. Basically get your fingers in there and lift the skin away from the breast meat. It should be quite easy as that stuff is quite elastic before it is cooked;
• In to these pockets you want to squeeze some of the soft butter and some of the thyme, as when the chicken roasts the butter will melt in to the breast meat making it juicy by also very flavourful with the thyme;
• Then drizzle some oil all over the chicken, and rub the skin with salt and pepper;
• Set aside;
• Empty away about 1/3 of the can of cider and then pack in the remaining thyme, the chili, and the garlic in to the can;
• Now to the funny part. Take a deep breath chicken. Stick the can up the bum of the chicken and then stand it upright on a roasting tray;
• I have enclosed a picture of the poor little thing to show you that. Almost like the chicken is standing up;
• You can also see how I have stuffed the butter and thyme in to the breast skin here.

Believe it or not that is it. How simple is that! That is Beer Bum Chicken.

• Then bang your oven on 220 and stick this in for about 40 minutes;
• Have a check around the 30 minute mark as you want the skin to be browning and getting crispy (use the a cold knife, and stick in to the thick part of the breast and place that on your top lip> If hot all the way through you are done).

Basically the secret here is that the cider starts to boil and as it does it starts to produce steam. Yes cider steam, how cool is that. The hot cider also picks up the flavours of the garlic, herbs and chili in the can. So what you are doing is steaming from the inside and roasting from the outside. That is why it cooks much quicker, you get amazing flavoured meat, and the moisture of the steam ensures you get beautiful succulent meat.

I kid you not – this will be the best roast chicken you have ever had! Plus don’t stop there – have fun with this recipe. Replace the herbs with other alternatives of Beer Bum Chicken. Why not beer with rosemary and garlic. How about orange soda with chili? Go for it – I guarantee you will not be disappointed with this gem – ENJOY!!!