INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

GLAZE
Brine the hens: Dissolve the salt in about 2 quarts cold water in a small,
clean bucket or large bowl. Add the hens breast side down; refrigerate 2 to
3 hours. Remove, rinse thoroughly, pat dry , and prick skin all over breast
and legs with point of paring knife.
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Butterfly the hens: Remove the backbone with kitchen shears; flatten he
birds, breast side up with palm of hand. Loosen the skin around leg/thighs
of hens and along breastbone to expose meat. Generously sprinkle exposed
meat with salt, pepper, and herb of choice. Melt the margarine and mix in
the peach preserves *I used peach because I had some handy. Apricot or
other preserves can be used. Add spices (I added white pepper and basil)
Rub the hens with about 2 tablespoons margarine, softened. Brush hens with
margarine and preserves mixture. Put the hens on a rack on top of a
roasting pan or jelly roll pan . Roast hens 20 to 25 minutes until nicely
browned (I roasted 30 minutes). Turn oven from bake to broil and broil 5
minutes or until nicely browned.
Lou's Notes: These were quite delicious! This was an experiment based on an
article, "How to Roast Cornish Game Hens", in the Sept/Oct issue of Cook's
'Illustrated. This dish combines their suggestions for brining the hens to
greatly enhance the flavor and butter flying them to "solve many of the
problems with roasting a whole hen." The brining seemed to work well. The
meat was very tasty and there was no trace of salt left. Removing the backs
was a bit messy, but worked ok. The glaze was taken from an apricot-glazed
game hen recipe posted to the MasterCook list by Janet Baker.
One of the benefits to removing the backs is the shorter cooking time. I
roasted them a bit longer than the recipe recommended (30 minutes). Still,
my husband said they could have cooked a bit longer, but I was afraid of
their drying out. I used peach preserves because I had just that amount
left from a jar my friend Cyn made from Hill Country peaches. Servings -
one hen each if the hens are small or hearty appetites. Larger hens or
smaller appetites could make do on one hen for two.
The article has other recommendations for stuffing and more details on
roasting game hens. 8/97
Recipe by: Adapted from Cook's Illustrated, Sept/Oct 1997 Posted to TNT -
Prodigy's Recipe Exchange Newsletter  by Lou Parris
<lbparris@earthlink.net> on Aug 17, 1997

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