Chicken Grilling Recipes That Really Work: But First - - -

My oldest daughter told me about a way to grill chicken the other day. It involved beer - or soda pop - but she figured it might work with fruit juice, too.

I haven't tried this. If you have, I'd appreciate a comment on how well it worked. Or didn't.

You take a whole chicken (plucked and prepped - like you get at a butcher's) and a can of beer. Or soda pop. Or, maybe, fruit juice.

Open the can, and sit it (open side up, of course!) on the grill. Then, you fit the chicken, tail end down, over the can. How you're supposed to balance the thing is your problem - my daughter didn't mention how that's supposed to work.

Light the grill - or, if you're really macho, set the thing up over a grill that's already hot - and wait for the bird to get grilled all the way through.

You've read all the FDA warnings about salmonella and food poisoning. I assume you're neither a fool nor an idiot, so we'll move along.

If everything went right, you've got a grilled chicken that's absorbed some of the beer - or soda pop - or fruit juice - flavor. Sounds delicious.

My daughter thinks cranberry juice might eliminate the need for cranberry sauce. Which gave her an interesting thought: "I wonder if it would work with turkey?"

You'd need either a huge grill or a really small chicken - or turkey - to close the top, using this method. Which would let most of the smoke escape. I grill with the top down, except when I have to move the food, to make the most of the smoke's flavoring potential.

As I said, I've never tried this: but it sounds good.

One more thing: I'm not at all sure what will happen as fat from the grilling bird drips into the grill.

There's a description of one of my early experiences with grilling chicken in "Fireball Fryers, on Easy Griller's Safety page.

And Now, Chicken Grilling Recipes that Really Work

Or, as Rocky the Flying Squirrel said, "and now, for something you'll really like!"

• "Grilled Chicken Recipes"
  Better Recipes.com

There's 199 of them, starting with Chicken with Feta Cheese and Blackberry Vinaigrette, Grilled Chicken Breasts, Greek Chicken, Pepper Jack Chicken, Lip Smacking Chicken Drumsticks, and (I'm not making this up) Thyme for Chicken.

They look good, sound fancy, and seem to be more trouble than they're worth: but some people like to put effort into food preparation.

Springtime in Minnesota

I didn't realize, when I started "Easy Griller" - the blog - how hard it is to write about grilling burgers.

Well, actually, it isn't. I could go on for what would seem like forever, detailing how it's a bad idea to turn on the gas, and then get a match out; or the "foomp!" when the fire starts; or how my eyes sting, letting me know that we've got enough smoke to make the grilling worthwhile.

But I noticed that each grilling session is like that. Saturday and Sunday, regular as clockwork, I go out with a plate of burgers - or burgers and a wiener - put them on the grill, light the fire, flip them several times, and then take them back inside.

Sometimes I light the fire first, and then put the burgers on, and sometimes there's a different number of burgers, but that's about all the variety there is.

So, that's why I haven't made entries lately.

Today, there is something to report. Minnesota spring is happening!

Elsewhere there may be the stereotype blooming flowers, but here in Minnesota, spring is the season when winter melts.

Water flooded the space where I stand, in front of the grill. That's drained away, happily, but you can see where it was, in that photo. See the edge of the ice? That's where the waterline was.

Something else has changed, too. We need a new grill. This old workhorse has served us well, but it's getting to the point where I'm a little concerned about parts wearing out.

Not the metal grid where I put the meat: one of the crosspieces wore through in one spot, and a few others are nearly there. That just means I have to be aware of where I put the meat. I'm more worried about the valves and tubing, that have been subjected to the wild temperature changes all these years.

I suspect that it'd be about as expensive to replace all that, as it would be to get a new grill - one that isn't deformed from that time when I learned that chicken fat makes a pretty good fuel.

Problem is, this family had quite a bit of month left at the end of our money this month, and a new grill lags far behind medical bills, household maintenance and repair, and food: in terms of priority.

Thanksgiving Next Week

This weekend's grilling went better than last, in a way. A week ago yesterday, the grill's flames reached out and touched someone: me. There's more over at "Through One Dad's Eye."

I see that I've been neglecting this blog. Time to stop that.


This weekend was a sort of milestone in this year's grilling. We had cat-track snow very early yesterday. Most of it was gone by noon, apart from diehard patches on the north side of things.

That patch of snow on the grill didn't cause any problems, but the wind did.

I used up almost a half-dozen matches, getting the fire going. Then, I noticed flames getting blown out the bottom of the grill. That got my attention, because I was downwind of the fire. I don't thing that the grill is out to get me, but there does seem to be a pattern here.

My wife said that we may need a new grill. She could be right.

Today's grilling went better, in a way. I didn't need to defend myself against the grill, but the burgers came about a bit more well-done than I intended.