Kai Pu Khao - "Volcano Chicken"

This was a request from a correspondent, and my wife was somewhat 
surprised to discover that this is still offered in restaurants. "Rather 
complex" was the family opinion. 

This for once isn't one of my wife's recipes: My mother-in-law was kind 
enough to demonstrate this one to us. 

an explanation of volcano chicken: 

When the chicken is stood vertically on the plate and ignited the flames 
coming from the open body cavity resemble the eruption of a volcano... 

Hence the name.Ingredients

1 chicken, about 2 pounds or a little more. 

marinade 

2 tablespoons of kratiem (garlic), minced 
half a teaspoon prik thai (black pepper), freshly ground 
quarter cup of fish sauce 
quarter cup of whiskey 
quarter cup of honey 
quarter cup of coconut milk 
1 tablespoon of red curry paste 
2 tablespoons nam prik pao (black chili paste in oil) 

for flambeeing : 1 cup whiskey
Method

Mix the marinade ingredients, then clean and prepare the chicken, and 
thoroughly coat with the marinade, and leave to stand in a wok for 12 
hours. 

Remove the chicken from the wok, allowing to drain thoroughly, then over 
medium heat reduce the marinade to form a thick sauce. 

The chicken should be stood upright on an ovenproof plate (in Thailand a 
metal disk with a vertical peg attached is used. Something similar is 
sold as a "chicken roaster" in America and Europe I believe), and cooked 
in a medium oven until the skin just begins to change colour. 

Remove the chicken and place it on a flame proof but table-ready plate 
and bring to the table. Pour whiskey through the interior of the bird, 
and then ladle it over the outside so the bird is thoroughly coated, 
then ignite and allow the whiskey to burn itself out. 

Carve the chicken, and serve with khao suay (steamed white [jasmine] 
rice), and stir fried green vegetables, and the usual Thai condiments 
and the reduced sauce.