# Can gravy be made from beer can chicken?



## pacanis

I grill my beer can chickens on a pie tin. This pie tin always has a fair amount of liquid in it when I'm through. Can this liquid be turned into gravy? Has anyone here ever done that? 
Something about it just doesn't seem right because the chicken isn't cooking _in_ the liquid, as if you were pan frying or oven roasting it, but rather this is just the juice (fat?) from the bird alone that drips off.

What do you think?


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## CharlieD

I don't see why not. You have to use fat for gravy anyway. Might as well use what you already have.


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## pacanis

That's what I was thinking Charlie. I just never heard of anyone doing it, or saving it for later to make a gravy with.


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## GB

When I roast, my bird is not sitting in liquid. It is suspended above, either on a rack or on a bed of veggies. The liquid is the same in roasting as it is in beer can chicken so gravy should work just fine.


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## pacanis

I never roasted a chicken. I thought maybe there was other liquid in there that you use to baste the bird with, not straight chicken renderings.

I think I have a taboo feeling about it. I have no problem pan frying a burger, then putting some butter, flour and beef broth in the pan and making gravy, but lets say I cooked a burger on a George Foreman grill (if I had one). It just doesn't seem right to take that fat that runs into that little tray, pour it into a pan and make gravy with it. To me anyway. Like it's "taboo" or something.

I mean, what's the difference, but it seems like it _is_ different.

Maybe I need to do it once and get it over with (lol).


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## GB

The difference is that with pan drippings from a roast or pan frying a burger you have both fat and fond. With the George Foreman grill the fat drips out, but there is no fond. it is just fat.


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## jabbur

I'd use it for gravy in NY minute!  There is no difference from what ends up in the pie tin or the bottom of the roaster.  The difference in the burger skillet vs burger Foreman grill is the little bits of meat that stick to the skillet.  You get that good beef flavor from those sticky bits that you don't have from a Foreman grill.  I agree I would be more hesitant to use that but there really is no reason why it couldn't be used.


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## GhettoRacingKid

when i spit roast my first i put a bread loaf pan under neath it and take the drippings and add it to some chx stock and make a wonderful gravy


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## suziquzie

I do it all the time Pacanis.... I can't make beer can chicken anymore without gravy!


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## GhettoRacingKid

if you put an herb butter under the skin that adds some ncie flavor to the bird and the pan drippings also.

the fat of the butter and rendered skin i use for the roux to thicken it


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## pacanis

Super! So it *has been done!*

Thanks. It's obviously something _I_ need to get over (lol). I may not make gravy tonight, but I'm going to save the juice in a tupperware container for later!


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## suziquzie

LOL, I have 3 of them... just in case I ever have a gravy cravin'.
DH wouldn;t let me save 1 more.....
big meanie.


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## pacanis

I'm all out of my pork juice containers, Suzi. My father brought me over some sliced pork from a roast last week. I looked at them and thought, what am I going to do with these without any gravy? I put them in the freezer a couple days later, waiting for the day I cooked something I could make gravy with and then I'll use them for an open faced sandwich.
So IMO, you can't have enough of those containers tucked away in your fridge or freezer.


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## LAJ

I toss the excess liquid from my beer chicken. I worry about contamination.


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## GB

Contamination from what? It's been cooked.


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## LAJ

If the drippings are dripping into a pan underneath the bird they may not be thoroughly cooked. Chicken blood in a pan. I am leary. But, to each his own.


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## GB

Why wouldn't they be cooked? The drippings are even closer to the heat source than the bird in the case.


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## Kayelle

Contamination?  You have to bring gravy to a boiling point, right?


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## pacanis

Boy, this is an oldie.

Yeah, if there isn't contamination from roasting it in the oven, why would there be contamination from "roasting" it on top of a grill with the lid down? It's basically the same method.

That said, I still don't pour the juice from a beer can chicken into a pan and make gravy from it. No idea why not. I don't use the drippings from a smoked Italian chuck roast either. Maybe some day


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## CraigC

LAJ said:


> If the drippings are dripping into a pan underneath the bird they may not be thoroughly cooked. Chicken blood in a pan. I am leary. But, to each his own.


 
If there is blood in the drip pan, the bird isn't done. I believe most folks us an indirect cooking method and an instant read thermometer. If the chicken is done, the drippings are as well. Plus the fact that your thickener won't reach full potential until it boils.

Craig


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## Zhizara

I think that because you're grilling and you're cooking out you'd have potato salad instead of mashed potatoes, hence you wouldn't need to make gravy, although it seems like it would be good.


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## chopper

Zhizara said:


> I think that because you're grilling and you're cooking out you'd have potato salad instead of mashed potatoes, hence you wouldn't need to make gravy, although it seems like it would be good.


 Gravy isn't just for potatoes.  I like it on the meat too, or biscuits...


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## DarayTala

Hello there, i'm new here and noticed this thread, which is actually what prompted me to register and post.  I made a beer can chicken with the half full can in the chicken and some extra beer in the pan.  I used everything extra with a bit of flour to thicken it to make gravy and i have to say that it was the best gravy i ever made.  So i would highly recommend giving it a try and experimenting with it, it truly can be something wonderful.


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## pacanis

Zhizara said:


> I think that because you're grilling and you're cooking out you'd have potato salad instead of mashed potatoes, hence you wouldn't need to make gravy, although it seems like it would be good.


 
I couldn't even tell you if I was even having potatoes 
I'm a waste not want not kind of person. If some good drippings come my way I'll make gravy for a later date even if I don't need it that day. Like for an open faced sandwich. Like I said a few years ago though, I just have a hard time wrapping my head around combining grilled or smoked meat drippings with making them into a gravy. And a good part of that is probably exactly what you said, Z, because I'm not having anything I want the gravy for that day.


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## Love2cook11

I made my first beer can chicken this week.  I put a pan under the grates (indirect heat) to catch all the drips to spare my grill.  When the chicken was done I took the pan out and set it aside, intending to make gravy.  The delicious chicken distracted me so much I didn't remember the pan until that evening when I heard a noise on the porch....a possum enjoying the drippings!!!!  I will try gravy next time!!


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## pacanis

Love2cook11 said:


> I made my first beer can chicken this week. I put a pan under the grates (indirect heat) to catch all the drips to spare my grill. When the chicken was done I took the pan out and set it aside, intending to make gravy. The delicious chicken distracted me so much I didn't remember the pan until that evening when I heard a noise on the porch....a possum enjoying the drippings!!!! I will try gravy next time!!


 
Sounds like the makings of agood long thread, L2C... if an animal gets into the food on my porch before I put it away, is it still good the next day?


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## PrincessFiona60

pacanis said:


> Sounds like the makings of agood long thread, L2C... if an animal gets into the food on my porch before I put it away, is it still good the next day?


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## Zhizara

Love2cook11 said:


> I made my first beer can chicken this week.  I put a pan under the grates (indirect heat) to catch all the drips to spare my grill.  When the chicken was done I took the pan out and set it aside, intending to make gravy.  The delicious chicken distracted me so much I didn't remember the pan until that evening when I heard a noise on the porch....a possum enjoying the drippings!!!!  I will try gravy next time!!



Lucky possom


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## pacanis

Just to follow up... several years later, lol.
Last night I made gravy with the juice from my beer can chicken. First time. And while it was good, it _was_ gravy after all, it of course tasted like the rub from my chicken. That is a taste I prefer on the bird, rather than the spuds.
If I am wanting mashed potatoes and gravy again, and I'm grilling the bird, I would probably just use some chicken stock to make it. Either that or go with more traditional oven seasonings on the chicken.

And now we can close this chapter ;^)


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## Andy M.

Of course, you can make gravy without a roast.  A roux, broth, seasonings, heat = gravy.

In place of chicken fat, use butter (or bacon fat) to make the roux, use reduced chicken broth or (enhance the broth with some chicken base) to intensify the flavor, and the seasonings you like in your gravy.  Not as good as using the pan drippings and fond, but it's a tasty gravy.


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## pacanis

Yes, I've done that before.
The drippings do make the gravy though. Provided you like the flavor of them, lol.


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## Andy M.

Absolutely.  Making gravy without meat was a series of cooking experiments I conducted some time ago.  Once you realize you can do it.  You mentally file it away for a gravy emergency.  One never wants to be unprepared for a gravy emergency.


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## pacanis

lol, I heard that. Gravy may be my favorite food group.


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## letscook

I have use 7 up instead of beer with rosemary, thyme, garlic added to the can  and then i put in the cavity first  lemon & lime  slices then put on the can.  came out very good.  The juices were excelent, I put them in a sauce pan brought it to a boil and added a lil butter  reduced it a lil  and served it with the chicken -- outstanding !!!!


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