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Grilled Cornish Game Hens

Grilled Cornish Game Hens
  • Category

    Dinner

  • Cusine

    American

Ingredients

4 game hens

Olive oil

Salt and black pepper

Lemon wedges

Directions

To grill the hens evenly, you will want to flatten the birds in a method called spatchcocking. To do this, start by trimming off any excess fat and the wingtips from the game hens. Turn the birds over and use kitchen shears to cut out their backbones. Use your hands to flatten the birds. You can stop here, but I like to cut out the ribs and the saber bone — essentially the hen's shoulder blade — to make the hens easier to eat.

Pat the hens dry with paper towels, then coat them with the olive oil. Salt well and set aside for 15-30 minutes; the hens will cook better if they are at room temperature.

While the hens are coming to room temperature, get your grill hot. Make sure the grates are clean. Just before you put the birds on the grill, soak a paper towel in some oil and use tongs to wipe down the grill grates.

Place the hens down on the grill breast side up .

Chances are they will want to arc upward, which you don't want. You want the hens to have good, solid contact with the grill. If they arc, place a foil-wrapped brick on the hen. Grill this way for 10 minutes with the grill cover open. If you don't have bricks handy just squash the birds down on the grill with tongs or a spatula.

After 10 minutes, flip the birds and place the bricks on them again, if using. Grill for 5 minutes, or until the skin on the birds is nice and browned. Turn the birds back over and cook to your liking breast side up — you shouldn't need the bricks anymore. Depending on the heat of your grill, you may not need much more time, but on cool-ish grills this final step can take as much as another 10-15 minutes depending on how done you like your hens.

Move the hens off the grill and grind some black pepper over them. Let the birds rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with lemon wedges on the side.