Super Bowl... and we made a whole chicken!

What a great Super Bowl! It was so fun to watch. I really wanted the Cardinals to win, but was glad it was a close game. We had a few folks over and it was a lot of fun. We ate so much good food - even Bro got a sampling.

Some of the group eagerly waiting for the 3D commercials.



By the way, we made a whole chicken! I say "we" because we both contributed to the cooking of the bird - it turned out to be a semi-two person job. I guess I was always intimidated about cooking a whole chicken. Would I buy the right kind of chicken? How do I know when it's cooked all the way? How do I cut it up the right way? Well, I found a great recipe in Cooking Light magazine for Drunken Chicken. My parents have made this in the past and usually make it on a grill. This recipe called for it to be made in the oven, which was nice for a cold day - it warmed our house and we didn't have to pull out the grill! Here is the recipe:


1 3.5 lb chicken
3 Tbs ketchup
3 Tbs chili sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1 12-oz beer
3 Tbs liquid smoke


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.


I made the rub for the chicken first - combine ketchup and next seven ingredients in a bowl and wisk. Put the bowl in the fridge.


Get your chicken ready. This sounds gross, but it's not - take the insides of the chicken out. Just clean him out, until he's hollow. Trim any excess fat. Now you're ready for your rub. Take the rub out of the fridge, wisk once more. Using your hands, rub the mix all over the chicken, inside and out. Make sure you get under his wings and in all the creveces.


Once you feel like you have got him good and rubbed down, wash your hands, and drink half of your beer. Leave half the beer in the can, pour the liquid smoke and any excess rub in the beer can with the beer. Then you'll just slide the chicken onto the beer can. Put the chicken and beer can in a roasting pan (or brownie pan - anything with sides) and put him in the oven. He'll look like this:

Cook him for about 45 minutes to an hour. We have a new oven, so it was done pretty quickly. I have a meat thermometer, so I made sure he was at 170-180 degrees before we cut him open. When you take him out of the oven, make sure to wait about 15 minutes. The beer can is sooo hot, so you might want to use gloves or tongs when you pull the beer can out.

Remove skin from the chicken; discard. Carve the chicken and serve! I ate this with bbq sauce on a hamburger bun, then used some to make chicken salad, and still had some left over. We had a great time making it, and were pretty proud of ourselves when we were done. Hope you give it a try!