Grilled Cornish Game Hens Recipe 1

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Please welcome Hank Shaw as he shares his favorite way of preparing cornish game hens, grilled! Absolutely delicious. ~Elise Cornish game hens. Almost everyone has seen them at some point, either sitting next to the chicken at the meat counter or hiding in the freezer section like little poultry-shaped hand grenades. They kinda-sorta look like chickens, but are they? Despite their name, Cornish hens are not a game bird - although they are, more or less, the size of a partridge. No, they are merely young birds (about five weeks old) from a small breed of chicken. Disappointed that they aren’t actually something exotic? I was, too, until I began eating them, many years ago. Think of Cornish hens as single-serving chickens, which is precisely the reason the breed was created back in the 1950s. And since they are so young and tender, Cornish hens are perfect for the grill. They cook pretty quick as it is, but the birds will cook even faster if you spatchcock them. Yes, I know. Spatchcocking sounds like some medieval torture, but it’s really just a simple way to flatten a bird well enough so that it gets great contact with the grill so it cooks faster. Once you’ve spatchcocked your hens (this method, by the way, works with any bird), you can grill them as-is, or grill them al mattone, which is Italian for “with a brick.” And yes, that is exactly what you do. Wrap bricks in foil and lay them on the hens and you will get even better contact with the heat, the birds will cook more evenly - and you’ll be eating them faster. I don’t like to mess with birds grilled this way. Sure, you can marinate them in something, but I prefer my hens flavored by nothing more than fire, salt, pepper and maybe a squeeze of lemon. It's handy to have a spray bottle with some water in it while you are grilling to douse any flare-ups on the grill.