How Alaska eats: Yes you can make Alaska beer can chicken

Email not displaying correctly? View the web version

Grin and beer it

by Julia O'Malley

Newsletter #52: Grill yr beer

After a month of spilling local brews into my grill, I can now report that I learned to make Alaska beer-infused chicken on a can, which is moist and delicious and, once you get the hang of it, not very hard.

I suggest making a beer-can chicken on a lazy Sunday afternoon, letting it roast away while you water the garden and finish up the laundry. (I also suggest spending $7 or so at a kitchen or hardware store for an apparatus that helps your beer can stand upright.) While you’re at it, grill some corn and slather it with pesto and then eat in the yard and take in all the green, growing things. (Pro-tip: put the chicken uncovered in the fridge overnight the night before and you’ll be rewarded with crispy skin.)

And should you find yourself in the mood for cake, Kim Sunée has a lemon cream cheese pound cake you could drown in rhubarb compote. Or put together this blueberry-nectarine confection Maya Wilson came up with. I keep finding myself in the position of making snacks for groups of children. There are the soccer team snacks, the hiking snacks, the birthday party snacks. I’m adding these brown butter Rice Krispies treats to my list as well as no-bake granola bars.

Steve Edwards has everything you need to know about how to trade your overwhelming rhubarb supply for ice cream at Wild Scoops, plus all your market news.

Also: I was recently delighted to get a copy of Edible Alaska in my mailbox. Tons of good stuff to read in there, including this crazy recipe from Hollis Mickey for chilled nasturtium soup. And, have you looked through the most amazing set of talks and workshops that will be part of the upcoming circumpolar food conference that’s being put on by UAA and APU? For nerds like me with an interest in food and culture, it seems very rich.

In other news: I’m happy to report this is the one-year anniversary of this newsletter. Thanks for reading and suffering through so many food puns. If you don’t already, support local news and local food and subscribe to ADN?

Here’s hoping, wherever you are this weekend, the fish are biting but the bugs aren’t.

RECIPE: ALASKA BEER CAN CHICKEN

Julia O'Malley, an Anchorage Daily News editor, is working on a book at the Anchorage Museum about how Alaskans eat. You can sign up to receive our weekly Alaska food newsletter, "How Alaska eats," in your email inbox by visiting adn.com/newsletter. Find more classic Alaska recipes here.