BeerButtChicken

Two large whole chickens. You can make it with one, but this recipe is really good for a summer party, so make two so you’ll have plenty. Clean the chickens and pat dry with paper towels.

Seasoning mix—the amounts are a little random, but that’s how Jim makes it and he really doesn’t measure things. 1 cup brown sugar, lots of paprika, lots of chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, ground red hot pepper. Be careful with the red pepper amount, it depends on how hot it is. We use the dried red salsa peppers made by my friend Wayne, who grows them in his garden.

Beer, two cans for two chickens. Pour out 1/2 of each can and drink this.

Spray cans with Pam.

Pour some seasoning into the cans until it foams.

Smear olive oil on the chickens, inside and out, and sprinkle seasoning inside the birds. Stand the birds up on top of the beer cans, through the butt, so they stay standing. There are special beer can racks for sale these
days, which can help stabilize the birds.

Sprinkle seasoning on the outside of the standing birds.

You should have started your charcoal before you started messing with the chickens. Make your grill using indirect heat. On the Weber, we have special grates which holds the charcoal to each side of the grill, or just pile the charcoal on each side.

Place the chickens on the grill and keep the heat very low. On the the Weber, the bottom vents are all open and the top vent open about 1/8".

Cover the chickens with a tin foil hat.

Add some water-soaked mesquite wood chips to each side of the grill on top of the coals. Add more every so often. Add more coals on each side, too, to keep the fire hot.

Cover the grill and let cook for 3 to 4 hours until it’s about ready to fall apart. Take the birds off and use tongs to pull the can out. Cut/pull apart and serve.