Poultry Tips - Cooking Cornish Game Hens

A Cornish game hen is sometimes known as a rock Cornish or poussin. This is a chicken, which is slaughtered young, and this is why it is small. The bird is called a hen although it might be male or female.

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Cornish game hens have a rounded, plump breast and short legs. This bird was created in the 1950s by cross-breeding White Rock chickens with Cornish ones. These birds are more expensive than regular chickens and they are between four and six weeks of age when they are slaughtered. Weighing less than two pounds, these birds can be used in various chicken recipes.

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Oven roasting is the best cooking method for game hens. The smaller ones might only need twenty minutes but larger ones might require up to an hour. When you can stick a sharp knife into the thickest part of the bird and the juices run clear, it is done. You can rub spices or herbs into the bird before baking it and you can baste it with melted butter or the juices, which accumulate in the pan as the bird cooks. Just pour these juices over the bird as it cooks to keep it wonderfully moist.

How to Make Stuffed Cornish Game Hens

If you fancy a change from your usual baked chicken rice recipe or chicken cordon bleu, what about making Cornish game hens with a rice and cheese filling? This recipe is simple to make and you do not need many ingredients for it. You can leave out the mushrooms if you do not like them.

If you want to serve extra stuffing on the side, you can put it in a small covered dish and bake it with the birds during the final forty five minutes of cooking, then remove the cover for the last fifteen minutes.

What You Will Need:
2 Cornish game hens, 1 lb each 1 cup shredded cheddar 1/2 stick butter plus more for basting 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion 2 tablespoons diced celery 2 oz chopped canned mushrooms 1 cup chicken broth 1/3 cup rice Salt and black pepper

How To Make It:

Melt the butter in a pan and saute the rice, onion, and celery for eight minutes, stirring the mixture often. Add the broth and bring the mixture to a boil, then cover the pan and simmer for twenty minutes over a gently heat or until the rice is fluffy and the liquid is absorbed. Stir in the mushrooms and let the mixture cool. Toss the cheddar with it. Season the insides of the Cornish game hens with salt and pepper, and then stuff them with the rice mixture.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and arrange the birds on a rack, breast side up. Put the rack in a shallow pan and baste the birds with some melted butter. Cover them loosely with aluminum foil and roast them for half an hour. Remove the foil and roast them for forty five more minutes, basting them occasionally with more butter during the last half an hour of the cooking time.

Poultry Tips - Cooking Cornish Game Hens

Cornish game hens make a tasty change to typical chicken recipes but sometimes you might crave a satisfying baked chicken rice recipe or classic recipe for chicken cordon bleu instead. Cornish game hens are more expensive than chicken but good for an occasional treat.

BonelessChickenRecipe.com - Chicken so delightfully moist, you can almost smell it through your monitor.

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