Chicken has definitely lost its flavor as noted by Mark Bittman in a New York Times Magazine article from today titled “Why Take Food Seriously?“

So, if you care not to buy designer chicken – ha! – check out the simplest “make chicken actually taste good again” recipe ever!

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. You can also cook on grill but I haven’t done so yet. Wash inside and outside of chicken off.

2) Open a beer and drink 1/3 of it. Pour a few tablespoons of seasoning in the can of beer. Stuff the can of beer in the chicken and stand upright. If you’re using a large whole chicken – seen below – use a wide can of beer. Heineken and Foster’s will get the job done. If you’re using a normal sized whole chicken you can use any size can of beer. Moreover, I don’t think the kind of beer matters. The seasoning does all the flavoring as the beer provides moisture.

3) Rub the chicken down with poultry seasoning. Be generous.

4) Cook in a dutch oven (the chicken will sweat/splatter all over your oven if cooked in a shallow pan) for 2 hours at 400 degrees.

5) Remove can over a sink. Be VERY CAREFUL with the removal! It’s a 2 person job – 1 to hold the chicken and 1 to pull the can out. There will be EXTREMELY hot beer in the can and the removal may require some pulling of a slippery a$$ can.

6) Carve away and enjoy! Whole chickens will feed a family for a few days.

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