First Time Making A Whole Chicken!

And first time beer can chicken, at that!

(and in the oven, too!)

So I was at the grocery store and was about to purchase a pack of chicken breasts for nearly $7 when I saw this bad boy for a buck cheaper. I couldn't resist. I have never made a whole chicken before, and to be quite honest I was TERRIFIED of how it was going to turn out. I researched a MILLION recipes, looking at rubs and brines and temperatures varying 100-degrees before I finally gave up. I even decided that, hey, while I'm already experimenting, I might as well try out something else, too: beer can chicken in the oven! In my case, it was a Pepsi can filled halfway with beer, but does the can's appearance really matter?

One of my biggest fears was having the chicken turn out dry. But look at the above image. Look at it. Now look at the one below. 

Do you see it glistening? Do you see the light reflecting off of that chicken breast like a glorious, juicy, shining gleam?? Yeah, no dryness here!! I just couldn't believe how easy this was to make and how delicious it turned out. Even the mister, who was skeptical at the "whole chicken" idea, declared that this is how we would be preparing our chicken from now on. 

To start, I brined the chicken overnight with about 13 cups of water, 1 cup of salt, and about 1 cup of sugar. Then, I rinsed that bad bird off and grabbed some light "spread" (butter, margarine, call it what you will). I rubbed about a tablespoon on the inside cavity, then forced some underneath the skin areas. I also smashed up a clove of garlic and stuffed some underneath the skin, and tossed the leftovers inside the cavity as well. Then, the hard part: getting that half-filled beer can into the correct...um...position. The hardest part was how I felt about myself after violating that poor bird. A little twist of the wrist and BOOM, the bird was seated comfortably in an upright position. 

I also rubbed on a very delicious but super basic rub consisting of garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and seasoned salt. I may have tossed a shake or two of cayenne pepper in there as well. It never hurts. 

There it is, sitting all lonely in my 350-degree super dirty oven. Honestly, I was out of tinfoil, so I left it uncovered the whole cooking time, which was a few hours. I basted it a couple of times with the dripping juices and butter. 
OH! See those little pockets?! I just cut a small slit into each side near the wings, then tucked them in so that they weren't flopping all over the place. GENIUS. ​

It seriously came out so juicy-ful. I did have a bit of difficulty determining done-ness and ending up taking the temp like a million times, but it was SO worth it. The breasts are HUGE, so much bigger than I've seen at the grocery store!! Each one was 2 meals for me, with leftover bits for the mister and for the homemade soup that I'm planning on making with the leftover bones. ​

Also, look what happened when I just TOUCHED the leg. Fall-apart awesomeness!