Blue Moon'd Chicken

Summer is here and with that comes out door cooking and the barbecue. After all, who wants to spend the day in a hot kitchen or locked up inside when you can be out in the great outdoors. This is the time of year to experiment and make your grilling recipes better than the previous years. Cooking steak, ribs, and pork on the grill doesn't present much of a problem but chicken it seems for a lot of people does. Almost everyone I know parboils the chicken before grilling and adding barbecue sauce. Perhaps that is why barbecued chicken for the most part seems to be one step above the hot dog. People just don't want to take the time and cook chicken on the grill. It takes too long and when it's done it is dry and except for the added sauce, tasteless. Well, there are several solutions to the problem and one is the Blue Moon'd Chicken.

Some will have guessed and rightfully so that we're talking about cooking with beer. However, to do this correctly you will need Blue Moon Belgian-style wheat Ale or some kind of similar wheat ale. Blue Moon is brewed with wheat, oats, a bit of orange peel and coriander. It is this combination that makes it the right choice with chicken or fish. Budweiser and other heavily advertised Commercial beers will not work nearly as well, but as to taste - to each their own. Now for those of you who haven't lost interest here's the nitty-gritty of cooking with Blue Moon.

When the coals are right for cooking, completely gray in color, get yourself a large pie tin or tin pan the size will depend on the amount of chicken you are going to grill and the size of the grill you are using to cook on. Place the chicken in the pan and fill with beer until the level of the liquid is half way covering the chicken. Blue Moon is usually served with a slice of orange and if you like the beer with a bit more of an orange taste or like the flavor of oranges then add a few slices of an orange in the liquid. Next, place the top of the grill over the chicken or use aluminum foil to seal in the beer and juices. After the beer starts to boil and steam turn over the pieces and let them simmer in the beer. The trick here is not to completely cook the chicken in the beer. You want to have it cooked halfway or a little less than halfway. To check the condition of the chicken you may want slice into it with a knife but don't slice the chicken across the grain of the meat, slice lengthwise.

Once the chicken is half cooked or slightly less than cooked half way remove the pieces and place them on the grill. Brush on some teriyaki sauce or a light barbecue sauce. Make sure that the sauce is mild and has honey as a main ingredient. Remember you are cooking with a wheat beer and want the sauce to complement not contradict the boiled and steamed in flavor of the beer. Also, do not marinate the chicken in the sauce before grilling, as this will make the added flavoring too strong to work in harmony with the beer. Just brush on the sauce to lightly add more flavors to the chicken. Turn the chicken over and add more sauce on the other side. Before the chicken is fully cooked move the pieces to the upper rack and place the tin of beer under them or use a wire mesh grill to place on top of the tin and beer and then place the chicken on the mesh. Once again, if you do not have a cover to your grill then cover the chicken and beer loosely with aluminum foil. Wait five to ten minutes and your finished. Enjoy.