Whole Smoked Chicken with Maple-Bourbon Glaze

Ingredients

• 1.6kg whole chicken
• 2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• ½ tsp mustard powder
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 x 330ml can lager (half-full) or 165ml chicken stock in an empty can
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 100ml maple syrup
• 50ml bourbon
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• pinch chilli flakes
• 4 corn cobs, husks removed
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 bunch spring onions, trimmed
• 30g unsalted butter
• zest of 1 lime
• sea salt
• ¼ white cabbage, finely shredded (about 250g)
• 1 fennel bulb, finely shaved
• 1 Granny Smith apple, julienned
• 1 carrot, coarsely grated
• small handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 3 tbsp soured cream
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• sea salt and black pepper

Method

1. The night before, or at least 4 hours ahead, dry-brine the bird. Pat the chicken completely bone-dry inside and out with kitchen paper — wet skin steams before it browns, and you want mahogany, not pale. Mix the salt, sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and mustard powder, and season the bird generously all over, including under the breast skin where you can loosen it with your fingers. Sit it uncovered on a rack in the fridge — the cold air dries the skin out, which is what gives you that lacquered finish later.
2. An hour before cooking, take the chicken out to lose the fridge chill and rub it lightly all over with the oil. Set up your kettle BBQ or smoker for indirect cooking at 130–140°C: coals banked to one side, drip tray with a splash of water on the other. Add a couple of chunks of apple or cherry wood to the coals — gentle smoke woods suit chicken; hickory will bully it.
3. Open the can, pour out (or drink) half, and drop in the bay, thyme and smashed garlic. If you'd rather skip the beer, half-fill an empty can with chicken stock and the aromatics. Lower the chicken cavity down over the can so it stands upright like a tripod, can and two legs forming the base. The beer doesn't really steam the bird — that's a myth — but the can holds it vertical so smoke and heat circle the whole carcass and the skin renders on every surface.
4. Sit the chicken on its can over the drip tray, away from the coals. Put the lid on with the vent above the bird so smoke is pulled across it. Smoke for 2 to 2½ hours, topping up coals to hold 130–140°C. Don't keep lifting the lid — every peek costs you ten minutes of cook time.
5. While the bird smokes, build the glaze. Combine maple syrup, bourbon, cider vinegar, Dijon, butter, smoked paprika and chilli flakes in a small pan. Simmer over a medium hob for 4–5 minutes until it coats the back of a spoon and smells syrupy rather than boozy — alcohol cooked off, sugars just thickening, not a hard caramel. Taste it: it should be sweet, sharp from the vinegar, with a whisper of heat. Adjust salt now if it needs lifting.
6. After about 2 hours, check the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh, avoiding the bone. When it reads 65°C, start glazing. Brush a thin coat all over the bird, close the lid, wait 8–10 minutes, glaze again. Repeat three times across roughly 30 minutes. Thin coats are the rule — slap it on thick and the sugars scorch black before they lacquer. You're chasing deep mahogany, not patent leather.
7. Pull the chicken when the thigh hits 74°C and the juices from the thickest part run clear. Lift the whole bird, can and all, onto a tray and rest uncovered for 15 minutes. Cut too soon and the juices run out onto the board instead of staying in the meat.
8. While the chicken rests, do the corn. Rub the cobs with oil and a generous pinch of salt and lay them over the hotter side of the coals. Char hard, turning every couple of minutes, until the kernels are blistered and blackened in patches all over — 8–10 minutes. Those black spots are where the sweetness concentrates. Throw the spring onions on for the last 2 minutes until floppy and charred. Toss everything in the butter and lime zest while still hot, and taste for salt — charred corn drinks it up.
9. For the slaw, whisk the soured cream, cider vinegar, Dijon, honey, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add cabbage, fennel, apple, carrot and parsley and toss thoroughly. Taste, season, taste again — it should land sharp first, creamy second. Dress no more than 15 minutes before serving so the cabbage keeps its crunch.
10. Carefully lift the chicken off the can (it'll be hot and the can is full of scalding liquid — tongs and a kitchen cloth). Carve into legs, thighs, wings and breast slices and pile onto a board. Plate the corn and charred spring onions alongside, heap the apple-fennel slaw next to it, tuck in the dill pickles and warm buns or sourdough, set the hot sauce on the table, and finish with a squeeze of lemon over the carved chicken — the acid cuts through the maple and rendered fat and pulls the whole plate sharp.