As you may know, Tim loves chicken. In fact, I don’t think ‘love’ really covers it. I’d probably call it an obsession. Our friends will be able to tell you many a tale relating to Tim and chicken (I think it even made it into his Best Man’s speech at our wedding). One of my favourites (although not at the time!) was when he nearly burned our flat down due to said chicken. After coming home from a big night out, after a few (!) beers, he decided to cook a roast chicken. Only he fell asleep with the oven on… let’s just say it’s a good job I got home in time!

We’ve been trying a few different kinds of recipes out recently, and one of them was Sweet & Spicy Beer Can Chicken.

It’s a Jamie Oliver recipe – ours was a much smaller chicken as it was only for the two of us, but his recipe, as per his website, is as follows:

Ingredients

1 x 1.8 kg whole free-range chicken

Method

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Remove the chicken from the fridge and leave aside to come up to room temperature. Bash the rub ingredients to a fine powder in a large pestle and mortar, then drizzle the chicken with olive oil. Sprinkle over the rub and use your hands to massage all those lovely flavours into all the nooks and crannies.

Crack open the beer and pour out around two-thirds of it (or drink it!), then carefully lower the chicken cavity onto the can so it looks like it’s sitting up. Position the chicken so it’s upright on a roasting tray, then place in the oven and cook for around 1 hour 10 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. To check it’s done, insert a knife into the thickest part of the thigh – the juices should run clear.

Brush the chicken all over with the barbecue sauce, then return to the oven for a further 10 minutes, or until dark and sticky. Meanwhile, finely slice the chilli and spring onions and pick the coriander leaves. Once ready, carefully remove and discard the can, then carve up the bird, scatter over the chilli, spring onions and coriander leaves, then serve.

The rub and beer gave a great flavour to the chicken, with a good kick to it! In terms of the beer, Tim chose Smog Rocket from Beavertown Brewery. It tastes great but also looks cool for cooking too!