Tips on roasting Cornish game hens please?

Cafe Society
1

Because of certain family members having to work Thanksgiving, and following the family upheavels due to the death of my father and my aunt, we won’t, this year, be gathering on the actual day of Thanksgiving. We may have a dinner the weekend before, but I’m not counting on it.

My sisters must work that day, they have hospital jobs, so on the actual day of Thanksgiving I want to keep my mother company, and I thought it would be cute to do itty bitty birds like Cornish game hens.

But I’ve never cooked them before. Now, I know how to Google, but if my Doper friends have ever done CGH’s, I’d appreciate personal advice/tips, on how to best roast the little suckers.

I figured I’d do a small side of dressing, some corn, bread rolls, and dessert. Not pumpkin pie as Mom doesn’t like it. Maybe I’ll buy a couple of the pecan tarts I make at work.

So, can anyone help a Doper out?

2

I’ve done Cornish game hens a few times, as well as quail. The one piece of advice I have is: brine them for sure. It makes a small bird (where it’s easy to overcook it, especially in parts) much more forgiving. A simple 4-8 hour brine practically guarantees you a juicy, enjoyable-to-eat bird, and you can tailor the brine to match the flavors of the rest of your menu if you like.

Happy to provide a more detailed formula/recipe if desired.

3

I’d love to have the directions on brining. Getting an evenly cooked little bird was something the concerned me.

4

I use a bread pan and put 3 of them in it side by side and cover with stuffing. Great except my brother-in -law who said “Oh you’d kill little baby chickens?”

5

General brine formula for me (I use this with any bird, also pork applications):

1 gallon warm water
1 cup salt
1/2 cup sugar

Do that, or those proportions, in whatever amount is necessary to cover your protein comfortably. Warm water makes it easier to dissolve your salt and sugar. Sugar doesn’t make things sweet: sugar is hygroscopic, which makes moisture want to stick around. I think it also helps browning, which can be a problem with heavily-brined meats.

I add spices that work well with my final application. Garlic powder, black pepper, and onion powder are almost always in there - maybe a tbsp, tsp, and tbsp respectively. Depending on the final recipe, anything else from cayenne pepper to smoked paprika to coriander and cardamom might join the party.

I don’t think more than 8 hours is a good thing; beyond that, I think the meat gets kinda mushy and hard to brown, unless you have like a 16 pound turkey or something similarly huge.

6

They’re just chickens: they’re not Cornish, nor are they game hens. Just find a decent chicken recipe and go for it.

7

Here is my partner’s method, as described to me:

Marinate the birds in a combination of sake, soy sauce and grated fresh ginger, for at least a couple of hours.

Saute scallions and celery (small chop) then add cooked rice and raisins, and cinnamon.

Cool the stuffing enough to handle, and stuff the birds full. Tie the legs together to hold in the stuffing.

Bake on a rack at 450, turning over and making sure it is browned all over, then cover with aluminum foil until done. If you have a meat thermometer, the breast should be 160 and the thigh should be 175. Allow to rest for at least 5 minutes before serving. Leave the stuffing inside and let the eater dig it out, it will be very fragrant.

Sorry I don’t have proportions; the stuffing is mostly rice, the other things are flavorings.

8

One of the few things I do know about CORNISH GAME HENS is that yes, they are just teeny chickens. But thanks SO much for your comments. Size does matter, in cooking anyway, and that’s why I’m asking for help.

9

I used to cook them a lot, and never ran into problems with cooking them evenly. Being so much smaller, there’s a lot less variation in meat thickness than you find in larger chickens.

My favorite approach was to stuff them with onions, garlic, apples, and raisins, then do butter and salt and pepper on the outsides.

We did them for Thanksgiving last year. Big hit. Way more festive on the plate than turkey shreds.

10

There is also lemon juice in the marinade. I think that’s it.

11

That’s sarcasm, isn’t it? I recognized it right off.

12

I stuff them with couscous with preserved lemons, sundried tomotoes, pickled peppers and olives in it, rubbed overall with a spice mix - either za’atar, or Ras el hanout, depending if you want herby or spicy. Never brined before, never had a problem. I do cover the roasting tray with foil.

13

Follow your favorite roasted chicken recipe, just scaled down (ingredients + time) to accommodate the proportions. I go simple: salt and butter on and under the skin, hot oven (about 400 F) in a roasting pan with some cubed potatoes and onions, for around 45 mins or so. Add a bit of water or broth about halfway through to keep the fond from burning and build up the jus.

14

They’re yummy, but people will be tempted to use them as puppets.

Or is that only in my family? :smiley:

15

I can’t help wondering exactly how do you put a meat thermometer into the thigh of a CGH ?

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If you brine, make sure to dry out the skin before you put them in the oven. If anything is good about CGH, it’s the skin-to-meat ratio and you want it nice and crispy.

I think there are some good recipes and instructions already, so I won’t repeat anything, but I will add that I think they come out best if partially covered by foil the whole time. Don’t make it tight enough that steam builds up inside. You can achieve this either by cutting a few large holes in the foil, or by anchoring the foil only at two edges of the baking pan, so the foil isn’t touching the other two edges.

For doneness, you can use a thermometer, but my preference is the same as with regular chicken - watch for the skin/meat pulling away from the end of the leg bone. That’s done.

17

You want to roast at 500, preheated, since the birds cook so fast you need the high heat to put any sort of color on the skin.

18

Well if their corny…I would say butter, and salt. Lil bit of pepper…you know boil them maybe…Maybe cream them. Mmm creamy cornish :wink:

19

Baker, here’s what I’ve done for about 20 years of baking CGHs. No foil necessary (except perhaps at the end), no complicated stuffing, no messy brining.

Take the hens out of their packaging and be sure to remove the little packet of organs inside. It won’t add to the end flavor to leave it in, I promise. I unwrap the little packet and put the contents in the freezer and use it when I make bone broth with the carcasses later.

Put together about 1/4 c or so per bird of equal amounts of regular corn syrup and orange juice. You will want to “goose” the birds a few times during cooking and so you’ll need to re-stir it every time. The corn syrup contributes to browning and makes the orange juice stick to the skin.

I put them on a baking rack (the kind that has a top piece and a solid piece underneath. I line the bottom piece with foil and put about a 1/4" of water down in there…makes a little steam while the birds cook. The top part I use either cooking spray or brush it with a neutral oil so the birds don’t stick to the pan.

You don’t need to truss the birds. Put them on their backs on the pan and “goose” generously with the corn syrup/orange juice mixture all over the outside, including the creases where the wings & legs meet the body. (I even put a little inside the cavity, but it’s just a little.) Put the pan into a preheated oven (the temp is on the bird wrappers.) Plan for it to take about an hour to an hour fifteen to cook them. Maybe as long as 1:30, but I’ve never had to go beyond 1:15.

Goose them generously about every 20 minutes. This is very important. It builds up layers of flavor and keeps the birds moist.

If the skin starts to darken too fast, put a little foil tent over the birds until cooking is done, but be sure to goose a final time about 15 to 20 minutes before you take the birds out of the oven.

We never had fancy meat thermometers in my house for many years, so we just wriggled the legs to see if the birds were done. If they moved very easily, they were done. (Probably dangerous nowadays to depend on that method.)

This is important: Let the birds REST UNCOVERED for 15 to 30 minutes before cutting into them! They will be delicious and very juicy and the skin will be crispy with a nice orange flavor. Yum!

BTW, I’ve used this method in both electric and natural gas ovens, so it should work no matter which type of oven you have.

Oh. One more note. About 40 minutes into cooking, when I take the birds out of the oven to goose them, I usually tilt them up a bit to let all the juice in the cavity run out. Otherwise I find there’s sometimes uncooked juice up in there when I’m serving them.

Enjoy!

20

These are awesome instructions, thanks for posting them!