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CI's Roast Cornish Game Hens




Source of Recipe


Cook’s Illustrated May & June 2014


Recipe Introduction


NOTE: These birds have to be salted and air dried in the refrigerator for 4-24 hours before roasting. This is a wonderful method for getting a nice crust on these tiny little birds. Usually when you cook Cornish hens the meat is dry by the time that that skin is crisp or the skin is flabby when the meat is done. This method results in crisp skin and juicy, tender meat. It is also incredibly easy, using just one pan for browning and roasting. Fast, too – the halved hens cook in just about 20 minutes.


List of Ingredients




4 (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb.) Cornish game hens
Kosher salt and pepper
1/4 t. vegetable oil
1 t. baking powder
Vegetable oil spray


Recipe



Cut out the backbone of each hen with kitchen shears. Flatten hens on cutting board breast side up. Cut in half down the breastbone.

With your fingers, gently go between the skin and the meat at the breast and thigh. With the tip of a paring knife, poke 10-15 holes in the fatty areas at the top of the breast and thigh. Tuck the tips of the wings under the hens. Dry well with paper towels.

Sprinkle a total of 1 tablespoon of salt on the bone side of all 8 halves. Mix 1 tablespoon salt and the oil in a small bowl. Add the baking powder and mix well. Rub this mixture all over the skin side of each hen half. Place them on a dish, skin side up in a single layer and refrigerate for 4-24 hours.

Place one oven rack in the lowest position and the other in the upper-middle position. Place a baking sheet that will hold all of the hen pieces on the lowest rack. Heat the oven to 500 degrees.

When the oven is heated, spray the skin side of the hen halves with the vegetable oil spray and place them, skin side down on the heated baking sheet. Cook for 10 minutes.

Take the baking sheet with the hens out of the oven and turn on the broiler. Turn the hen halves over (skin up). Place the sheet on the upper rack and broil until beautifully browned and crisp. Remove when the breast temperature is 160 degrees and the thighs are 175 degrees – about 5 minutes (mine took a few minutes longer than that). Watch carefully to make sure that they don’t burn and rotate the baking sheet a couple of times to make sure they broil evenly. If the skin starts to get too dark and the hens aren’t up to temperature yet, just turn off the broiler and put the oven temperature back to 500 degrees. They won’t take more than another couple of minutes to come to temperature.


Serves 4-8.