# Cornish Hens



## SizzlininIN (Feb 9, 2005)

Ok........I've got 2 of these little buggers in the freezer.  I decided to pick some up the other day thinking about my mom making them for her and dad.  I haven't brought myself to make them yet......I think the size is getting to me.........looks like an oversized, plucked parrot without a head   ..... no offense Bucky......no deep frying this one   
Someone entice me with their recipe so I can get these out of my freezer and onto the plate.


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## buckytom (Feb 9, 2005)

louie and beethoven are no longer hoosier fans...

actually, my wife and i make these fairly often. i can spice one the way i like, and dw's her way. they are obviously a smaller chicken, therefore they tend to be more moist than a big breasted roaster chicken or turkey. more skin and more dark meat in ratio to the amount white meat keeps it moist.
i like to make them fairly simply. just wash, pat dry, and sprinkle/rub on a good amount of s & p and paprika. i like to add garlic powder, onion powder, and a bit of cayenne powder to mine.
put in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 to finish.
i like to serve them with mashed taters and baby peas. good home cookin'...


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## SizzlininIN (Feb 9, 2005)

Neither am I   ....I'm a transplanted Hoosier.  

Wonder what that parakeets ratio would have been............ 

To let you all in on the joke..........I used to have this parakeet and one day I had to take my then husband to work.  I'd just fixed us something to eat and when I returned home I realized I'd left the birdcage door open and couldn't find the bird.  Well needless to say I hadn't put the lid back on the deep fryer and the little bugger decided its feathers needed a hot oil treatment cause I found him in on the floor covered in oil.  He was fine just greasy as all get..... the vet just told me to use some Dawn detergent and give him a good washing under the faucet


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## kitchenelf (Feb 9, 2005)

- poor birdie!!!! lol

The last time I did cornish hens it was awhile ago - I used a combination honey, orange juice (or concentrate) and fresh tarragon - heated in a pot until honey is melted.  Let cool.

Use this mixture to coat the hen.

Then I made some wild rice and used part of this same mixture (or it couldhave just been OJ - I can't remember - but either way would work) as part of the liquid to cook the rice.  I also added some slightly chopped pecans to the rice and right after it was done I added some golden sultans while it "rested".  

Stuffed the birds and cooked basting occasionally with the honey/oj mixture.


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## Raine (Feb 9, 2005)

Honey-Glazed Cornish Hens


INGREDIENTS:

2 Cornish game hens, (about 1 1/2 lbs each)
1 teaspoon fresh orange peel, grated
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate, thawed, undiluted
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
oil or non-stick cooking spray
1/2 cup chopped onion
fresh orange wedges, optional
1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 teaspoon cold water
PREPARATION:



Place game hens breast side down on a cutting board and cut in half along backbone. Remove skin and trim excess fat.
In a small microwave-safe dish, combine orange peel, lemon juice, orange juice concentrate, soy sauce, honey, garlic, onion powder, and thyme. Bring to boiling point in microwave oven; set aside.
Lightly grease a baking dish or spray with cooking spray.
Divide chopped onion into 4 portions in baking dish; place hens bone side down on onions.
Pour orange juice mixture over hens.
Bake hens at 350° for 45 minutes, basting every 10 to 15 minutes with cooking juices. If they brown too quickly, cover them loosely with aluminum foil.
When hens are done, remove from baking dish, onions and all, to warm dinner plates.
If desired, garnish with orange slices. Skim fat off juices in baking dish. If desired, thicken pan juices with a teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with 1 teaspoon of cold water. Serve juices on the side. Serve with hot cooked rice and green vegetable.


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## Raine (Feb 9, 2005)

Stuffed Cornish Hens

INGREDIENTS:

1 package long-grain and wild rice mix, 6 ounces
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 can (about 4 ounces) chopped mushrooms, drained
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 Cornish game hens (approximately 1 pound each)
PREPARATION:


Directions for stuffed Cornish hens 
Cook rice according to package directions; cool. Add celery, chopped mushrooms, butter, and soy sauce; toss lightly to mix. Stuff hens; place in roasting pan. Roast, loosely covered at 375° for 30 minutes. Remove cover and continue roasting Cornish hens for about 60 minutes, or until done. Baste Cornish hens with butter during last 30 minutes, if desired.
Stuffed Cornish hens serves 4.


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## Raine (Feb 9, 2005)

4 Cornish game hens
melted butter
***Barbecue Sauce***

1 clove minced garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup oil
1 1/4 cup Worcestershire
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
Brush each Cornish hen with butter and place on vertical roaster. 

Mash garlic and salt together in a bowl. Combine with remaining ingredients. Set Cornish upright on grill over coals and cover barbecue grill. Brush with sauce every 10 minutes for about 45 minutes or until tender.


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## Raine (Feb 9, 2005)

Cornish Hens with Cherry Sauce

4 Cornish game hens
6 ounces stove top cornbread stuffing mix
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/4 cup + 2 T. butter
3/4 cup red currant jelly
1/4 cup dried red cherries, coarse chopped
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Thaw hens if frozen. Place a rack in a slow cooker. 

In a medium bowl, combine stuffing mix with seasoning packet, water, and 1/4 cup of margarine/butter. Stuff hens and place on rack in slow cooker. 

In a small saucepan, combine jelly, cherries, remaining butter/margarine, lemon juice, salt and allspice. Cook over low heat, stirring until jelly is melted. Reserve 2/3 cup sauce. Brush remaining sauce on hens in cooker. 

Cover and cook on low 6-7 hours. Serve whole or cut hens in half with kitchen shears. Spoon reserved sauce over hens at serving time.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Feb 9, 2005)

All of the above recipes are great.  My favorite way to make cornish game hens is to stuff them with wild rice and mushrooms, coat them with butter, and put them on the barbecue using the indirect method where the carcoal is seperated into two beds with a drip pan in hte middle.  Cover and adjust the dampers to about 3/4 of the way open and cook them to an internal temp of 155, using an instant read meat themometer.  Add some sweet spuds or a green salad and you have an incredible meal.

They are sooooo juicy that way.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## SizzlininIN (Feb 9, 2005)

I think I'll give the recipe with the wild rice a try.......I've never had wild rice, however, love fried rice, white rice, brown rice so I'm sure I'll love this.  Who knows maybe I'll discover 2 things at the same time I'll absolutely love......the hens and the rice.

Thanks guys!


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## AllenOK (Feb 9, 2005)

Here's a few.  I made the Italian one years ago.  I got the recipe out of Jeff Smith's Italian cookbook.  It's great.

Game Hens Stuffed with Sausage, Fennel, and Mushrooms
Serves  4 - 6

For the stuffing:
½# mild Italian sausage
2 T olive oil
2 T minced garlic
1 c peeled and chopped yellow onion
2 ½ c julienned fresh fennel bulb
¼# mushrooms, sliced
2 T chopped parsley
¾ c bread crumbs
½ c chicken stock
2 eggs, beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika, to taste
Four 1 ¾# game hens

	Brown the sausage until crumbly.  Drain and discard the fat.  Combine the sausage with the rest of the stuffing ingredients.
	Rub the hens with crushed garlic, oil, salt, pepper, and paprika, and stuff.  Roast at 350°F in the center of the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes max!  Allow to stand 5 minutes.  Split the birds in half and serve.

Rosemary-Lemon Cornish Hens with Roasted Potatoes
Yields:  2 servings

2 t crushed dried rosemary
½ t salt, in all
¼ t black pepper, in all
two 1 ¼ # Cornish hens
½ lemon, halved, in all
Cooking spray
2 c cubed Yukon gold or red potato
2 t olive oil

	You can easily vary this recipe by using thyme in place of rosemary or sprinkling ground red pepper and garlic powder over the potatoes. Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine crushed dried rosemary, ¼ t salt, and 1/8 t pepper. Remove and discard giblets from hens. Rinse hens with cold water; pat dry. Remove skin; trim excess fat. Working with 1 hen
at a time, place 1 lemon piece in the cavity of hen; tie ends of legs together with twine. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under hen.  Repeat procedure with remaining hen and lemon piece. Rub hens with rosemary mixture. Place hens, breast sides up, on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Toss potato with oil; sprinkle with remaining salt
and pepper. Arrange the potato around hens. Insert a meat thermometer into meaty part of a thigh, making sure not to touch bone. Remove twine. Bake at 375°F for 1 hour or until thermometer registers 180°.

Roasted Game Hens with 40 Cloves Of Garlic 
Yield: 4 Servings

two 1 ½# Cornish game hens
6 T softened butter
8 fresh sage leaves
2 t grated lemon zest
40 cloves garlic
½ c white wine
1 c chicken stock
2 T arrowroot
2 T water

Preheat oven to 400°F.  In a pot of boiling water blanch garlic cloves for 30 seconds. Remove to ice bath to stop cooking. Remove skins. In a small bowl, combine softened butter, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Loosen the skin of the hens by slipping your fingers between the meat and skin of the breast and legs. Rub the butter mixture under the skin of each hen. Place a fresh sage leaf under the skin on each breast half and at each leg.
Place hens, head to toe, in roasting pan. Place garlic cloves inside the cavities and surrounding each hen. Roast hens for 25 - 30 minutes at 400°F until juices run clear when thigh is pierced.
	Remove hens and garlic from roasting pan to platter. Pour off fat and juices into fat separator. Place roasting pan over heat. Pour in the white wine to deglaze. Reduce until almost evaporated, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of pan. When reduced, add the chicken stock and any juices that have settled in the fat separator and from the platter. Mix together the arrowroot and water. Add to sauce and bring to a
boil to achieve full thickening power.
	Cut hens in half down breast bone and back bone. Serve half a hen per guest. Serve pan sauce on side.

Another one I haven't done in years, is to butterfly a game hen down the back.  Remove the backbone and save for stock.  Place the bird(s) in a large bowl and marinate with a good bit of olive oil, crushed fresh garlic, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary.  Marinate for an hour or so and then place on a charcoal grill.  Cook until done (not sure how long this will be).


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## SizzlininIN (Feb 10, 2005)

Wow AllenMI........40 cloves for 2 little bitty chickens.......I like garlic but I'm not sure about this much.

The middle one with Rosemary sounds really good.  

Hubby isn't fond of licorish so I don't think the one with the fennel will go well with his taste.......  sounds delicious to me though


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## luvs (Feb 10, 2005)

give your hens 2 days to thaw in the fridge. 
and if they're tyson hens, don't follow the pkg. directions. they dry out.
i heavily butter the skin on mine, add my seasonings, (lots of black pepper/salt/ground sage!!!!/garlic powder/onion powder/sometimes paprika), crush some garlic cloves, and alternate stuffing that and lemon pcs. into the cavity, then bake in a mini roaster, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, tops, basting about 3 or 4 times throughout cooking.


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## SizzlininIN (Feb 10, 2005)

Thanks for the tips Luvs!  By the way how you feeling now?


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## luvs (Feb 12, 2005)

you're welcome, sizz.  
i'm doing better than i was now, and got a new feeding tube yesterday that is way less noticable cause it doesn't dangle down past the bottom of  my shirts, so i'm one happy camper!
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





thanks for asking.


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## norgeskog (Feb 12, 2005)

Sizz, I have a couple of very good recipes posted on the Chicken forum, both TNT


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## SizzlininIN (Feb 14, 2005)

I'm glad your doing better now Luvs.  So how are they adjusting your feedings?  Are they going by a percentage of food you eat to the ratio of feeding you are to receive via the tube?  How are you doing weight wise are you picking any up?  I hope so!

Norgeskog...I'll check out your recipes.  Thanks!


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## norgeskog (Feb 14, 2005)

SizzlininIN said:
			
		

> Norgeskog...I'll check out your recipes.  Thanks!



Sizz, let me know if you cannot find them.  They are not very old.


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## mudbug (Feb 14, 2005)

norge, I have game hens in the freezer just waiting for me to find time to make your recipe with wine and rosemary.


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## AllenOK (Feb 14, 2005)

SizzlininIN said:
			
		

> Wow AllenMI........40 cloves for 2 little bitty chickens.......I like garlic but I'm not sure about this much.



The garlic, once roasted, will be very mild and have a nutty flavor.  I think I'm going to start doing the Roasted Chicken with 40 cloves just to keep myself supplied with roast garlic, plus have a good dinner at the same time.


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## SizzlininIN (Feb 14, 2005)

Norgeskog.........I haven't found them yet but will keep looking.

AllenMI.........I'll give it a try.


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## SizzlininIN (Feb 15, 2005)

By the way..........I ended up fixing these for our Valentines Day Dinner and they were delicious! I will def. be making these again and trying out the other recipes!  Thanks Everyone!


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