My husband and I are making Cornish Game Hens for our Valentines dinner tomorrow. Looking for some recipe ideas. I'm doing them whole not but
Since I'm doing them whole with maybe a lemon and herb sprigs inside, how long should they roast and at what temp? Any ideas on sides?
Recommended by Food52
9 Comments
And enough water to cover the birds---a few cups. Use a small place to hold down the birds. Remove the birds. (you where just adjusting liquid in the pot there).
Put a string around the birds under their wings so you lift them up. Bring the sauce to a boil and drop in the birds bring it to a boil again...and turn off. Let that go for 1hr. There's enough thermal mass to cook the birds.
Remove the birds and hang them up with the strings on cabinat knobs with a drip pan for 30 mins. Then use a hair dryer to make the skin very very dry.
Then fry them in a good bit of oil until the outer skin crisps up using the string to help this. The bird is fully cooked and seasoned and the frying is simply to crisp up the skin.
You can save the sauce for use again either for birds or for red cooked beef.
http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2014/02/marinated-cornish-game-hens/
The time required to cook it in her original recipe was way off - 90 minutes for the original roasting and then another 15 minutes after re-marinading to crisp up the skin - so I would definitely reduce it based on the size of your birds and your oven, or just cook with an instant read thermometer.
The final product, however, was delicious.
Dry two hens thoroughly. Crush about 6 or more cloves of garlic in a mortar and pestle with the plenty of coarse salt and rub the birds inside and out with the resulting paste. Stuff with thin lemon wedges and rosemary sprigs. Bake at 350 for half an hour. Increase to 400 until skins are crackly and juices run clear.