It's a good idea and I think it does do a good job. All the fat in the skin from the neck and upper breast melts and bastes the bird as it cooks. Also since it's upright, the bird does tend to cook pretty evenly, and of course you get nice browning on the back for those who like to used the browned skin with the carcass for stock.

Whether or not it works, it does sound like fun!

I think a lot of the appeal would be that you get nice brown crispy skin all around with a vertical roaster, whereas when you lay them on one side or the other the underneath skin gets a bit soggy.

I've had one for 20 years or more and I agree with all the reasons given above. Mine is just the upright support, no pan attached underneath. I put it in a metal pie plate to catch the fat. I do think that chicken roasted this way is juicier, more flavorful, and it roasts faster than sitting in a pan. But it can splatter and mess up the oven a little.

I also love the 5 hours at 250 degrees Sticky Chicken....and Jacques Pepin cold non-stick pan "fried" chicken thighs... and BBQ chicken... and stir fried Chicken-in-a-Garden.....and...... well, you can see where this is leading. ;o)

Teresa

Teresa, might chicken be one of your favourite meats??

I made Sticky chicken once, and it was laying in fat. I had to drain the roasting pan, which I've never had to do before. Might have been coincidence, or the bird, but I haven't made it since.

I have six wire racks (like the one at the link) which hold chickens vertically; very useful when I'm smoking a bunch of chickens in my smoker.

Only drawback is that the chickens take on the look of fat guys sitting around a table, like that famous photo of Churchill, FDR and Stalin at Yalta. (Okay, I'll get back on my meds. Promise.)

Here is a link that might be useful: vertical chicken roaster

It's like beer can chicken without the beer....it's like rotissary chicken without the motor. self basting, grease draining, even browning yummy chicken.
Linda C

We've been lusting after one of these for 'schwarma' - lamb.

Here is a link that might be useful: schwarma wiki

Ah, doner kebabs, food of the gods, and a must after a night out drinking :-)
We were astounded in Germany to see how popular they were,. easier to find Doner kebabs, pizza or sushi in Berlin than German food! We saw delivery trucks all piled up with fully loaded rotisserie rods each like a meat carpet roll all wrapped up in plastic.

And if you put all your favorite root vegetables and lots of garlic and onion in the pan underneath the chicken they cook in all that lovely schmaltz and are absolutley delicious!!

Steve

What is the best position for doing the chicken? Depends, depends, and depends.

Depends on whether your oven is electric, gas, electric convection, or gas convection. They all have different thermodynamic impacts on how the food is cooked.

Depends on the personality of each of the above. One convection oven will cook differently then another convection oven.

Depends on your preference. Do you want a uniformly browned skin? Or the best meat texture. Which part of the chicken you don't mind getting overcooked?

I don't see there are any inherent universal advantages of vertically cooked chicken. Certainly not in a convection oven.

dcarch

Well, Elery being the gadget oriented kind of guy he is, has a vertical electric rotisserie, Cuisinart brand, which means it is currently sitting in my kitchen. (sigh)

It makes a perfectly good chicken, we haven't used it for anything else other than a turkey breast. I'm not all that crazy about chicken, frankly, and refuse to eat the skin, so poor Elery only gets chicken wings when we go out. It's kind of hard to "de-skin" chicken wings, LOL. But I digress...

Mother loves the darned thing. She likes crispy chicken skin and there's no part of the chicken skin that's sitting unroasted, she's a happy woman with all that crispy skin just for herself. I'll bet she'd love one of those vertical roasters.

Annie

I used to roast my chickens vertically. Then I renovated my kitchen and got a new range. With a new generation of technological advances, many ovens have become very short from top to bottom. Doesn't matter if you're baking cookies, but when roasting poultry vertically, it is easy to brush the top of the oven.

So now I "butterfly" my chickens and roast them flat.

Basically the same as a beer can chicken roaster, right? Cheap and holds chicken upright in the pan. Additional spot for a beer can to supposedly benefit the chicken with steaming beer, though i never felt that part made much difference. But the texture and even cooking really is quite nice.

I am surprised that, 12 years ago, I didn't mention the duck roaster my father and grandfather made a long time ago.

It was a steel barrel that probably once held toxic chemicals and may or may not have been properly cleaned, lined with heating elements scavenged from multiple toasters, indifferently and terrifyingly wired together but somehow no-one got electrocuted. The ducks were hung on wire coat hangers, in a crucifixion position, and roasted from all sides in not only a vertical, but a hanging-free-in-space position, with the fat rendering out into a pot at the bottom of the barrel.

Crude this device was, the roast duck was grrrrrreat!

In cleaning out the kitchen for its remodel, I found the vertical roaster that inspired this thread back when then sat un-used for over a decade. I tried to throw it out but SWMBO stopped me. Into the basement it went, to be my kids' problem when it is no longer mine.

LOL! I remember you talking about the duck roaster when talking about ducks. I wasn't around for your vertical roaster question. I do chickens flat nowadays but I always got great results with vertical. The ceramic "beer can" one, with wine rather than beer, made delightful chicken but cracked. Then the carefully treated replacement cracked. The wire frame ones work great, but would be better with the container of liquid inside, rather than liquid in the pan underneath. I have a barbecue version of the ceramic one in stainless, but it would be messy in the oven. Awesome Chicken cooked flat on a bed of sliced onion and carrot chunks, plus whatever, in 60% steam is even better. Gisele, yes?

I usually flatten chickens now as they cook easier in the air fryer flat. The legs don't get caught up in the fan LOL.

I rarely cook whole chickens, but when I do, they spin horizontally on the rotisserie unless they're jerked in which case they will be spatchcocked and roasted flat on the charcoal grill. I've tried various iterations of the upright or "beer can" cooker and found the results less than perfect with cleanup a major mess.

Beyond that, I'm wondering how many more ancient threads are about to surface. There's nothing new under the sun.

Had one and was okay, but did not fit in my Weber grill. Sold it with a bunch of other usless grill baskets and stuff.

My favorite way to cook whole chicken is deboned, flattened, well seasoned, on a bed of rosemary or sage or whatever I find to cut, on the grill. The portioning is so easy, just snip it apart with scissors.