Bayerisches Bierhendl

Bierhendl belongs to Bavaria, to the beer garden, the fairground, and the Wiesn table, where a good roast chicken is served in halves with potato salad, a pretzel, or nothing more than a knife and patience. Das ist kein Bierzelt trick, even if the tents sell mountains of it. It is a whole bird, seasoned hard, roasted until the skin goes mahogany, and basted with beer and butter only when the skin can take it.

Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. In the north, a chicken is more likely to meet herbs, mustard, or a sharper pan sauce; in Bavaria the argument is simpler: paprika or no paprika, caraway or no caraway, beer in the baste or beer only in the glass. I use sweet paprika, a little caraway, and a pale Bavarian lager because they belong to the dish without shouting over the chicken.

The step that decides it is drying the skin and salting early. Salt pulls moisture to the surface, then the refrigerator air dries it back down; roast wet skin and you get leather before you get colour. The beer-butter baste waits until the last third of cooking because beer has water in it, and water put on too early softens the skin you worked to dry. Erst verstehen, dann kochen.

Weggeworfen wird nichts. The neck, wing tips, and carcass go into a pot for broth after supper, and the pan juices get loosened with a splash more beer, not a jar of Bratensoße. Nicht aus dem Glas. A good bird and enough time.