Recipe: Lemon and Beer Chicken

One of my "signature dishes" is a whole roast chicken that slowly cooks in the oven.  It's very easy to make, but the flavors pop, and the chicken itself is extremely juicy!  My daughter, who can be very very picky, will eat two helpings of this chicken, so it's a tried and true toddler favorite!


Ingredients:
1 Whole Chicken
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt  (Or you can use 2 garlic cloves)
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dill
2 lemons
1/2 cup of Shiner Bock (or a similar beer)
4 pats of butter

Gravy:
As much of the juices as you can pull from the pan
1/2 to 1 cup of milk (Watch the color of the gravy, it should be a tan, you don't want too much milk to overpower the juices)
1 TB corn starch

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Remove innards from chicken, and wash out thoroughly with COLD water (this is important, warm water can promote bacteria growth on raw chicken).

Place chicken, breast up, into a pan at least 2 inches deep.

Roll 1 lemon, while pressing gently, to release juices, and then cut in half.  Squeeze two lemon halves over the chicken, then place in opposite corners of the pan.  Roll the other lemon, then prick 3 times with a fork, and place inside the chicken.  Pour 1/2 cup of shiner bock slowly over the chicken and into the bottom of the pan (again you can adjust as needed, I usually pour enough beer to coat the bottom of the pan, rising maybe 1/2 an inch.)

Sprinkle all seasonings evenly over the top of the chicken (don't forget to season the legs), you can adjust the seasonings as needed, I don't measure them, and just eyeball how much goes on.  I'm very liberal with the garlic salt.  If you are using garlic cloves, just toss them into the bottom of the pan to flavor the gravy and juices.

Place chicken in oven, and let cook until the juices run clear and the temp is at least 165, approximately 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours depending on your oven.

About 30 minutes before the chicken is finished, pull 1/2 cup of juices and put into a saucepan.  Turn on low.  Add approximately 1/2 cup of  milk and 1 TB of cornstarch mixed together into the saucepan (you may need more cornstarch to get the desired gravy thickness, but add it in small amounts).  Let thicken while stirring occasionally until the chicken is finished.  (This gravy is some of the best gravy I have ever had in my whole life, I promise!)  Make sure you mix the corn starch into the cold milk before slowly adding to the chicken juices, or else it will be clumpy.

Enjoy!

(This is the chicken prior to pulling out the juice for the gravy.  As you can see it is extremely juicy!)