best roast chicken

[jkm]

Well I adore roast chicken.... I can cook it alot of ways, the Cooks illustrated way.... the clay pot way....
recently bought a nice farm rasied organic 5 week bird and did it with the beer can roaster, which is a fast way to roast a bird, 40 mins. http://www.beercanchickenroaster.com/
i do not own this model, I set my bird in a heavy shallow pan in the wire holder and just added beer and water to the heavy pan, the beer has sugar whiches carmelizes the skin, and the water helps steam,

family agreed it was a great way to do a spring, farm bird,

The basic process is to take a half full can of beer with the top cut off. Place it where you are going to be doing the cooking and then place the chicken over it so that the beer can is inside the chicken. Since it's advent, people have begun adding all kinds of spices and extras to the beer to make it more flavorful. Generally, you will see garlic, cayenne, diced onions, or cumin added but you can use almost anything you want to.

So why does this work so well? First of all, you are adding a source of moisture to the chicken that keeps it from drying out. Second, you are adding beer. Now, more than the fact that beer is good, the yeast and malt found in beer reacts with the chicken, particularly the skin, making it thin and crispy while the meat remains juicy. Garland Rome suggested to me using crab boil, which works really well.

Like I said, you can do this regardless of how you plan to cook the chicken. Of course, it will turn out differently if you put it on the grill, versus in the smoker, but the basic principles still apply. Cook the chicken as you would normally. Always put something under the chicken like foil or a baking dish to catch the drippings.

The biggest problem you might run into is the chicken tipping over. The weight of a half full can of beer just isn't enough to keep the chicken standing, especially if you are doing a large bird. But never fear, your fellow outdoor cooks have recognized the need and a host of products have appeared on the market to help you out. If you look in the "Elsewhere on the Web" section you will find a few variations to choose from.

quoted from the about page,

cook on !

 

[Zen Chicken]

Chicken Soup

The advanced method...

This is an advanced cooking method for Baking Chicken, and making Chicken Broth. It takes a good part of a weekend, but it is worth it, and the house smells great while it is cooking.

If you have a dog or cat, they will get the trailings from this, and will get a really special treat.

This requires the use of a vertical roaster, [get one they are pretty cheap], a bowl, and a pot large enough to inset a entire vertical chicken and bowl.

Take butchered Chicken, wash it, clean it, season it, and poke it onto the vertical roaster.

Tie the legs and wings in with butcher cord.

Put the mounted Chicken in a bowl, and fit the bowl and vertical mounted chicken into the large pot.

If the pot does not contain the entire chicken then carefully cover the top with aluminum foil seal it up good.

---There is no peeking or opening the oven during this process---

Bake at 350 for approx 1 hour, then turn heat down to approx 275 and cook for another 3 hours.

When you take the Chicken out do it carefully so as not to spill anything.

The bowl collects all the drippings from the chicken set it aside and let it cool. Then refrigerate it.

The Chicken should be loaded onto a serving plate and prepared for eating.

Anything not eaten...skin, bones, Chicken Butt should be saved for the Chicken Broth.

Next day....

Now you are ready for the broth.

Get a couple of quarts of water or more, put them in a large soup pot.

Take the drippings out of the refrigerator and skim the congealed fat off of the top, put the drippings in the water.

Take all the bones and skin from the Chicken and put them in the water.

Salt the water

Bring this quickly to a boil for 1 minute then reduce to a simmer and cover the pot.

Simmer for approx 8 hours, or more.

Drain the broth through a strainer or cheese cloth.

Take the strained broth and chill it as quickly as you can with ice, and cold water, When cool enough put it in the refrigerator overnight, and do not disturb the broth.

Take the strained out pulp and bones and pick out the bones save this part for the animals.

The fat will rise to a crust on the top and the heavier elements will settle to the bottom as a sort of Chicken Mud.

Remove the fat and ladle off the broth until you get to the Mud.

Mix the Chicken Mud with the strained out parts and add some Oatmeal to absorb extra water this will be the Animal Treat.

Use the Broth for making Soups.

OR....

An alternative - for clarifying the Broth.

After straining out the bones and skin Chill the Broth quickly with Ice and Cold water, let it sit overnight in the fridge.

Take some fresh vegetables like Carrots, Celery, Peppers etc...{do not use potatoes for this process} peel and trim off the parts you normally don't eat off the vegetables. Wash these peelings and what-not.

Take about a half cup of raw hamburger and about 2 egg whites[Egg Whites Only] mash this up together and then mash in the vegetable trimming and peeled parts into a really gross looking blob.

Take the COLD broth out of the refrigerator, scoop off the fat, and put it in the cold water of the soup pot, put the vegetable BLOB in the pot with the Broth. You may want to add a teaspoon of Tomato or Tomato sauce to add acid to the mixture.

Mix this Gross concoction really well with the Broth, stir it well, and keep it cold.

Now put the mixed Broth with the Blob in it and put it on High Heat stand there and stir it until it starts to boil [this must be done quickly].

When it starts to boil turn down heat to barely a simmer and cover the pot.

Let it barely simmer for as long as you want, check it to see if it is ready.

The Blob will form a "RAFT" on top of the liquid, and the proteins from the hamburger and the egg white will collect all of the floating particles in the Broth.

Skim off the raft, and eat it, or give it to the animals.

You now have Clarified Chicken Broth.

Make soup with the vegetables and any other left overs you have.