Sticky beer chicken by Steven Tweedie of The Innis and Gunn Beer Kitchen

Since their creation in 2003, they’ve been busy brewing up an ever-growing range of flavour packed beers. Their extensive range of beers are not only delicious to drink, but are also great to add to your cooking. 

Their Beer Kitchens in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and St Andrews offer traditional high quality ‘pub grub’ along with some special creations featuring a number of their beers including Innis and Gunn cured smoked salmon!

For more information visit: www.innisandgunn.com

Ingredients 
For the sticky beer chicken:
1 whole free range chicken 
4 bottles of Innis & Gunn Original 
300g brown sugar
350g sea salt
2tsp of pepper corns
1 tsp of mustard seeds
2 carrots, chopped
2 white onions, halved
1 celery, chopped
3 bay leaves
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
20g of fresh parsley, chopped
2 sprigs of rosemary
100g liquid malt extract 

For the gravy:
1 bottle of good quality beer porter or stout
25g of butter
30g plain flour
1 sprig of rosemary 

Method 
To be done the night before:
1 In a large pot add 1ltr of water, the 4 bottles of Innis & Gunn Original, carrots, onion, celery, sugar, salt, peppercorns, mustard seeds, bay leaves, garlic and parsley. 
2 Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 mins, then leave to cool.
3 Split the chicken in ½, score it to the bone, place in the brine and leave overnight.

On the day:
1 Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
2 Remove the chicken from the pan and drain. Then place on a tray, skin side up, and stick rosemary between the scores.
3 Place in the oven and cook 
for 30-40mins depending 
on the size (aim for 20 min per pound).
4 For the sticky sauce, add 30ml of hot water to the malt extract and mix till smooth. Bring the chicken out of the oven and brush the chicken with the malt extract until the whole chicken is covered. 
5 Place back in the oven for 5-10 min until crispy. Remove the chicken from the tray and save the juices for the gravy.

For the gravy 
1 Place the left-over juices, saved from earlier, and add them to a pan with the beer porter or stout and reduce. 
2 In another pan, melt the butter and add the flour to make a roux. 
3 Pass the chicken and beer mix and pass it through strainer and into the roux. Mix until smooth, add the rosemary and seasoning. Mix until its smooth and serve with the chicken.

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