What's up, Chicken butt?

FINALLY!!! Spring has sprung in Norway!!!

Moving to and living in Norway has been, overall, an amazing experience, but adjusting to the seasons has been HELL. I come from a little place called Texas. In Texas we have, what I consider to be normal, 24 hour cycles. 12 hours of night and 12 hours of day, with the hours varying by a FEW depending on the month. I remember growing up, the rule was 'Be home by dark', and we LOVED summer cause that meant, at its peak, we could stretch out the daylight til at least 8pm! Oh, the shenanigans we got into in that extra hour of daylight!!

Well, fast forward about 15 years. I met a lovely Norwegian, got engaged to said Norwegian, and eventually married said Norwegian. And somewhere in the whirlwind, I ended up living in Norway. I moved here in January. Came straight from our honeymoon in Cabo. Straight from SUNNY Cabo. And it was DARK. Unnaturally dark. It was very confusing. The sun would set at around, oh say, 3:00, IN THE AFTERNOON! Then it would weakly make its debut the next morning around 9.30 or 10:00.

Summer was an altogether different beast. It just didn't get dark. I found it absolutely fascinating. To go into a bar at 10:00pm and come out at 2:00am and it was sunny!?! There is a period where it gets like this navy blue color between about 12.30 and 1.30 am, but never completely dark!

So, as you can imagine, this wreaked havoc on my little Texan biorhythms. But winter was the worst. After months of winter and dark, you CRAVE sunshine. I went to the doctor last week for my blood work results and I was actually vitamin D DEFICIENT!!!! And he actually said to me, "Well, soon the sun will come back and that should even out!" WHAT!!!!!!???

Well, it was like a small miracle last Friday, suddenly the clouds were gone! The sky was blue, the birds were singing, the sun was shining!!

Zippety Do Da!

Time to grill! A few years ago, I saw something called 'Beer Butt Chicken'. At first I thought it was a Jeff Foxworthy bit, but it was actually a legitimate way to cook a whole chicken. Out of a mixture of curiosity and skepticism, I decided to try it and it quickly became my favorite way to make chicken! It is delicious!

Here is what you need:

First, a basic rub. I use dark brown sugar, sea salt, paprika, cajun seasonings, rosemary and a bit of oregano and dry mustard:



You can be creative with your rub! Just tailor it to your tastes! Next, take a whole chicken, slap some olive oil on it and rub your rub generously all over the bird:



Take a half liter beer can and drink or pour out half of it. Put about 2 tablespoons of the rub inside the can:




Now here comes the fun part, even though it does seem slightly violating to the innocent chicken. Take the chicken and proceed to impale it on the beer can:




The two legs and the can act like a tripod to hold it up. Place the bird and the beer in an ovenproof dish. This will catch all of the drippings and beer can sputterings and prevent a royal mess on your grill. Set the chicken on the grill:



Shut the cover and let it cook for about an hour or until a meat thermometer says it is done (between 75 and 80 celcius). About 45 minutes into it, put whatever else you are serving with the meal on the grill:



When the bird is finished, it will have crisp skin and the inside will be so juicy! I have also had the legs just FALL off towards the end of grilling. That is how tender it can become!



It's a bit tricky to remove it from the grill, much less taking it off of the beer can, so I tend to just cut the meat straight from the bird propped on the can:



Beer Butt Chicken. Truly a sign that the sun has returned to the land of the North.