Oktoberfest Grilled Chicken

Oktoberfest Grilled Chicken is inspired by German Hendl rotisserie chicken as served at the annual celebration in Munich.

Oktoberfest Grilled Chicken

by Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime

At last September has arrived and with it the cool weather…

Hey, wait a minute. Our temps were real nice last week with an almost early taste of fall, but now they are right back up there into the 90’s with all that charming Midwest humidity that summer is famous for. Well, if I have to keep the a/c on, at least I am thankful our area is not plagued by fire. I honestly don’t know how people in the Pacific Northwest can breathe right now, much less sleep more than two winks without seeing an ominous glow in the nighttime sky. Good luck to you my friends out there, and may you have all the rain you desire. With no thunder and lightning.

And in other places around the world, September is a month of festivities in Germany, especially in Munich where they have the Oktoberfest. Always funny that Oktoberfest is in September. If you go in October it is only a memory.

Here around Cincinnati Ohio, which is a predominately German-American heritage town, we have our fair share of Oktoberfests, some of which have already started. Besides the obvious beer and camaraderie, there is also the food. One such food is celebrated at the Germania Park Oktoberfest. They have really long lines to get some of their famous rotisserie chicken, which is stylized after the famous Hendl rotisserie chickens served in Munich. They are juicy with great flavor!

I imagine many people would like to make something like this themselves at home, but just don’t have a rotisserie. But I was thinking why not grill it? I mean, I do have a rotisserie, but that doesn’t get my beloved summertime smoky flavor in it. But grilling it after marinating it will give it a nice touch. There is also the option of a beer-can chicken, but I really like to do that with brined chicken. And a secret: I don’t use actual beverage cans to do my beer-can chicken. There are stands for bird you can get that are shaped like volcanoes and allow heat to penetrate the inside. And if you put a drip pan with beer in it below that, you will get much better results.

But this chicken is marinated. And you can by the whole roaster and spatchcock it (See how to do that HERE) or you can just buy a split broiler and not worry about it. I actually used a split broiler this time, simply because it was the best looking chicken the market had that day. I mean spatchcocking isn’t difficult at all, so that wasn’t the issue. But I am a little picky about my meat. The only drawback to using split broilers is that I ended up with less chicken, since this came out to about 3 pounds as opposed to the type roaster I often choose, which comes in at about 5 pounds (I like them big). But either way, the cooking method is the same, as you will be cooking to temperature with a thermometer and not by the mysterious “It looks done on the outside!” theory of grilling. The instant read thermometer will get you perfect results. Every time.

recipe name

Servings: 2-4
Time: 5hr
Difficulty: moderate
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Time: 4 hours marination | Grill time 45-60min

Ingredients:

3 pounds split broiler chicken, or one 3 pound chicken spatchcocked

Marinade:

4 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup Bavarian lager beer
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

Method:

Pour marinade over chicken in plastic marinating bag, squeezing out all excess air.
Marinate for 4-6 hours or overnight.
Drain chicken, reserving marinade; boil marinade for three minutes, adding water as needed and use for a grilling baste.
Grill chicken over indirect heat on an outdoor grill until temperature tests 165F.

From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com