Beer-Can Chicken

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Award-winning author, cooking teacher, and syndicated columnist Steven Raichlen has published more than twenty cookbooks on a variety of subjects, but he is perhaps most famous for his "Barbecue Bible." Within the pages of "Beer-Can Chicken," he delves into America's newest passion: cooking a whole chicken upright on the base of a beer can filled with beer or any variety of liquids for flavoring.

The concept is simple, but can be tricky the first time around. Raichlen gives the basics of the technique in directions that are easy to follow and then branches out with variations on a theme to spark your imagination into creating your own versions of beer-can chicken.

Raichlen also covers alternative methods of support and gives advice on using gas versus charcoal grills or smokers. If you don't have a grill, many of the recipes can be adapted for indoor cooking in a conventional oven.

Included in the 75-recipe collection are more unusual dishes using alternative grilling methods such as chicken cooked under a stone and "dirty" steak cooked directly on hot coals. More interesting ideas include cooking eggs and biscuits in orange skins and custard in coconut cups on the grill.

Raichlen writes in a down-home, entertaining style with recipe introductions that entice you to try them. So, take that beer can and shove it... up your chicken! You won't be sorry.