Beer Can Chicken – Buffalo Style

Love buffalo wings but don’t want to have to eat 20 of something to get full?  Try this recipe, which combines the moist, tender, smoked flavors of beer can chicken with hot buffalo wing sauce and a smooth blue cheese béchamel sauce.

For this recipe, you start with a cayenne pepper-based dry rub, smoke the chicken beer-can-style, and then drizzle it with the two sauces.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 whole chicken, abut 4.5-5 pounds
¼ cup vegetable oil
Salt and pepper

Pepper dry rub:

1 tablespoon each of the following: sea salt, black pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, onion salt, mustard powder
2 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Buffalo sauce:

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
½ cup hot sauce (I strongly recommend Frank’s Hot)

Blue Cheese Béchamel:

3 tablespoons butter
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ cup flour
3 cups milk
½ pound blue cheese, crumbled

Directions:

1.    Drink half a can of beer. Boo-yah!
2.    Remove giblets from chicken, rinse inside and out, then pat dry with paper towels.
3.    Brush chicken with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
4.    Combine all dry rub ingredients. Rub generously over chicken.

5.    Set up grill so that charcoal is on one side, along with some wood chips that have been soaked in water, and a drip pan is on the other.
6.    Shove the beer can into the cavity of the chicken.  Place chicken on the grill, and stand it up so that the can and two legs form a tripod.  Tuck the wings into the chicken so they don’t dry out.
7.    Cook the chicken over indirect heat, covered (with the holes in the lid directly above the chicken) for approximately 75 minutes, until it reaches 165 degrees in the breast or 180 degrees in the thigh.  I’d recommend spinning the chicken around about halfway through so that one side doesn’t get to blackened.

 
8.    When the chicken is almost ready, prepare your sauces.  The buffalo sauce is super easy.  Melt the stick of butter, add hot sauce, and stir. Voila!
9.    For the blue cheese sauce: Add the butter and oil to a saucepan and melt butter over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour to form a roux, and whisk briskly for about 2 minutes.  Slowly add  the milk, whisking constantly, and then simmer for 8-10 minutes, whisking occasionally.  Stir in the blue cheese and you’re good to go.
10.    When the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the grill and let it rest – still standing on the can – for 10 minutes before removing the beer can (be careful, it’s still going to be pretty hot) and then carving the chicken.
11.    Serve the chicken, drizzle with the sauces, and enjoy!

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Twice-Grilled Cheesy Potato Cakes

Yum . . . super cheesy, moist-on-the-inside, crispy-on-the-outside potato cakes – cooked not once but twice on the grill!  This is definitely my new favorite side dish, and they’re really easy to make.

 
Ingredients (serves 4):

4 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3 TBSP butter
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion salt
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.    Spread out four squares of aluminum foil.  Place one chopped potato in each, then sprinkle with onion salt, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and place one small pad of butter over each potato.  Reserve remaining butter.
2.    Fold foil over potatoes to form pouches.
3.    Place pouches over indirect heat on grill, and cook for about 30 minutes.
4.    Remove potatoes from foil and place in mixing bowl with remaining butter.  Mash (and you really want to mash them, not whip them, so they’ll hold together.  A little chunky is ok).
5.    Stir in cheese.
6.    Form potato and cheese mixture into patties.  Let the patties sit in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to hold their shape.

7.    Carefully place patties on grill, over direct heat.  Grill, covered, for 8-10 minutes, flipping with a spatula once.
8.    Remove and dig in!

If you like this recipe, please be sure to click on the links below to share it! And don’t forget to follow @youcangrillthat on Twitter! 

Beer Can Chicken – Indian Style!

This dish is a spicy, savory, Indian play on the classic beer can chicken.  The chicken is rubbed with a spicy, flavor-packed Indian dry rub, and then smoked on the grill over a can of beer.  The result is chicken that's crispy on the outside and incredibly moist on the inside.  It’s served with a coconut and curry sauce that’s sweet and savory, along with some zucchini and some lightly grilled flatbread to soak up all the extra sauce.

And besides, who doesn’t want to try a recipe when step one is, “Drink half a can of beer”?

 
Ingredients (serves 4):

1 can of beer
1 whole chicken (4 to 4 ½ pounds)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
4 pieces flatbread

Indian dry rub:
3 TBSP curry powder
1 ½ TBSP coarse sea salt (substitute regular table salt if you don’t have sea salt)
2 TBSP red pepper flakes
1 TBSP ground cumin
1 TBSP ground coriander
½ TBSP dry mint
½ TBSP ground ginger

Coconut Curry Sauce with Zucchini:
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno chili, chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
2 TBSP olive oil
2 zucchinis, cut into bite-sized pieces (feel free to substitute other vegetables, like squash, carrots, etc.  Just be sure to adjust the cooking time as needed.)
¼ cup chicken broth
1 TBSP curry powder

Directions:

1.    Drink half a can of beer.
2.    Remove chicken giblets and rinse chicken inside and out.  Pat dry with paper towels – get it as dry as possible.
3.    Brush chicken with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4.    Combine dry rub ingredients, and coat chicken generously with the rub.

5.    Shove the beer can into the cavity of the chicken.
6.    Set up your grill so that the charcoal and some wood chips (pre-soaked in water to get the smoke going) are one side, and drip pan is on the other.
7.    Place the chicken on the opposite side of the grill from the coals, above the drip pan, so that it will cook indirectly.  Position the chicken so that the can and the two legs form a tripod to hold the chicken upright.
8.    Smoke the chicken, with the grill covered, for about an hour and fifteen minutes.  
9.    While the chicken is ready, go ahead and prep for your coconut curry sauce.  Puree the onion, garlic, jalapeno, and lemon juice in a food processor (or blender).
10.    When the temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees in the breast or 180 degrees in the thigh, and the juices run clear, remove the chicken and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.  This will give you time to put together your curry sauce.
11.    Place a cast iron pan on the grill directly above the coals.  Heat the olive oil.
12.    Add your pureed blend and stir for about 2 minutes.  Then add the zucchini and chicken broth and cook for another 2 minutes.  Stir in the curry powder, then the coconut milk, and cook until it begins to bubble.  Move the pan to the other side of the grill to simmer for about 10 minutes.

13.    Quickly heat the flatbread – about a minute on each side – while the sauce simmers.
14.    Remove the bread and sauce, serve with the chicken, and enjoy!

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Grilled Clams with White Wine Sauce and Linguine

Plump, juicy clams with a hint of smoky flavor, served over pasta with a delicious white wine sauce – give it a try!

Note: Yes, I know the pasta in this photo is not linguine. My wife wanted whole grain pasta, and the grocery store did not have whole grain linguine. However, if I could make this recipe any way I wanted, I'd use linguine, ergo, I've included linguine in the title and recipe.

  

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 dozen clams
About two dozen cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 ½ cups white wine
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon oregano
1 pound linguine or other pasta

Directions:

1.    Boil pasta according to directions.
2.    Heat olive oil and butter until butter melts. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for two minutes.
3.    Add wine, red pepper flakes, and oregano.  Simmer over low heat until reduced.
4.    Grill tomatoes, on skewers, over indirect heat for 6-8 minutes. Remove from grill and add to sauce.
5.    Place cleaned clams on hot grill.  Cook, covered, for about four minutes.  Remove lid.  Pull off clams as they open (careful not to spill any of the juices). Discard any clams that do not open.
6.    Place clams over pasta, and then pour sauce over clams and pasta.  Enjoy!

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