My favourite part of camping, hands down, is roasting sausages and marshmallows over a fire. But there is a limit to the number of sausages that I can eat over a weekend, and these gaps in the menu need to be filled with some other kind of food.
So I did what seemed obvious: I roasted a chicken.
Seriously, over a campfire.
If my time in Girl Guides taught me anything, it was that you did not necessarily have to compromise when it came to the food that you ate while camping. It's actually quite easy to turn your campfire into an ovenlike device...all you need is a roll of tinfoil.
But before I get there....allow me to talk a little more about the chicken itself.
My initial idea was to cook the chicken beer can style, that is, with a can of beer shoved up it's butt. After some careful research, however, I discovered that this wasn't really the best method to use: according to one obsessive compulsive engineer the beer in the can imparts very little in terms of flavour, which to me would be the entire point of this particular cooking method.
Since the boyfriend loves beer, and since I want to get as much beer flavour into the chicken as possible I decided to go the route of a brine. Brining basically involves soaking in a solution of salt (and other things)...it gives the chicken extra flavour, and helps to keep it moist while it cooks (important as I was going to be cooking this bird for an as yet undetermined amount of time over a campfire of unknown temperature).
All you need in a brine is liquid (typically water), salt, sugar, and any other seasonings (vegetables, herbs, etc) that you desire. I used the following ingredients, which could easily be swapped out for something that you like a little more.....
-750 ml beer (I chose a strong brown ale)
-750 ml water (giving 1.5 litres of liquid total)
-1/4 cup salt
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 onion, quartered
-1 carrot, roughly chopped
-1 bay leaf
To make the brine, combine all of the ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil (this is what gets the carrot, onion, and bay leaf flavour into the liquid). Once the liquid is boiling remove it from the heat and cool to room temperature.
Note: cooling to room temperature is very important! Raw chicken + still-warm brine = bacteria farm!
Once the liquid has cooled pour it over the chicken (so that it is covered). If you don't have enough brine to completely cover the chicken that's fine...in cases like these I like to keep the bird breast side down (since there isn't a ton of meat on the back). Refrigerate and soak overnight (ideally) or for 1 hour per pound of meat (if you're strapped for time).
For even more flavour (and to encourage a crispy skin) I also used a spice rub made up of sugar, salt, black pepper, and chili powder.
When it came to cooking the chicken I decided to invest in a vertical chicken roaster, which would allow my chicken to stand up on the grill over the campfire.
No matter which way you decide to roast your chicken (vertically or in a roasting pan), the key to the process is not letting too much heat escape (the logic behind closed oven door or lids on the roasting pans). Since campfires typically do not come with a cover I had to get creative with a roll of tin foil. I used two fairly long pieces to create a tent over the bird, and weighed the ends down with logs. As soon as the second piece of foil was in place the bird began to sizzle...
I gave my chicken about 90 minutes to roast (since the last thing you want to do while camping is consume raw poultry). The general rule of thumb is about "20 minutes per pound" (some recommend adding an additional 15 to 20 minutes on top of that number), but regardless of how long your bird has been on for you will want to check the temperature (should read 165 degrees F) or even cut into the breast or thigh (meat should no longer be pink and juices should run clear).
I'm pretty proud of my chicken. The brine definitely imparted some beer and garlic flavour into the meat, and helped the bird stay nice and juicy. Served with corn (also cooked on the fire) and a baguette...this meal will definitely make it back onto next year's camping menu!
So I did what seemed obvious: I roasted a chicken.
Seriously, over a campfire.
If my time in Girl Guides taught me anything, it was that you did not necessarily have to compromise when it came to the food that you ate while camping. It's actually quite easy to turn your campfire into an ovenlike device...all you need is a roll of tinfoil.
But before I get there....allow me to talk a little more about the chicken itself.
My initial idea was to cook the chicken beer can style, that is, with a can of beer shoved up it's butt. After some careful research, however, I discovered that this wasn't really the best method to use: according to one obsessive compulsive engineer the beer in the can imparts very little in terms of flavour, which to me would be the entire point of this particular cooking method.
Since the boyfriend loves beer, and since I want to get as much beer flavour into the chicken as possible I decided to go the route of a brine. Brining basically involves soaking in a solution of salt (and other things)...it gives the chicken extra flavour, and helps to keep it moist while it cooks (important as I was going to be cooking this bird for an as yet undetermined amount of time over a campfire of unknown temperature).
All you need in a brine is liquid (typically water), salt, sugar, and any other seasonings (vegetables, herbs, etc) that you desire. I used the following ingredients, which could easily be swapped out for something that you like a little more.....
-750 ml beer (I chose a strong brown ale)
-750 ml water (giving 1.5 litres of liquid total)
-1/4 cup salt
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 onion, quartered
-1 carrot, roughly chopped
-1 bay leaf
To make the brine, combine all of the ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil (this is what gets the carrot, onion, and bay leaf flavour into the liquid). Once the liquid is boiling remove it from the heat and cool to room temperature.
Note: cooling to room temperature is very important! Raw chicken + still-warm brine = bacteria farm!
Once the liquid has cooled pour it over the chicken (so that it is covered). If you don't have enough brine to completely cover the chicken that's fine...in cases like these I like to keep the bird breast side down (since there isn't a ton of meat on the back). Refrigerate and soak overnight (ideally) or for 1 hour per pound of meat (if you're strapped for time).
For even more flavour (and to encourage a crispy skin) I also used a spice rub made up of sugar, salt, black pepper, and chili powder.
When it came to cooking the chicken I decided to invest in a vertical chicken roaster, which would allow my chicken to stand up on the grill over the campfire.
 |
| I chose the vertical method because of the campfire: roasting horizontally (in a roasting pan) would have resulted in the back side of the chicken cooking far faster than the front. With this method the lower part of the chicken (legs and thighs...closer to the fire) cooks a little faster than the top (breasts and wings) which is actually quite perfect given that legs and thighs typically take a little longer to cook all the way through (and are less likely to go dry if they are overcooked). |
I gave my chicken about 90 minutes to roast (since the last thing you want to do while camping is consume raw poultry). The general rule of thumb is about "20 minutes per pound" (some recommend adding an additional 15 to 20 minutes on top of that number), but regardless of how long your bird has been on for you will want to check the temperature (should read 165 degrees F) or even cut into the breast or thigh (meat should no longer be pink and juices should run clear).
I'm pretty proud of my chicken. The brine definitely imparted some beer and garlic flavour into the meat, and helped the bird stay nice and juicy. Served with corn (also cooked on the fire) and a baguette...this meal will definitely make it back onto next year's camping menu!
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| I served the chicken sitting on the stand...it was just me and the boy so there was no need to be polite: we tore pieces of meat straight off the bones. Messy, but delicious! |
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