Fast Food

Not Mickey D's, just faster than normal.

Everytime I'm shopping I pass the frozen birds. I've always wanted to try a goose. There must be a reason people used to eat them on special occasions. I'm thinking they probably taste like turkey. The other day I passed the freezer case and they were having a sale on Cornish game hens. I think it was two for $5 or something like that.

I was thinking I could make a nice stew of them, like a hunter's stew or something. I keep getting flashes of the stew Sam was making in The Lord of the Rings, which always looked so tasty, and then it gets abandoned and no one gets to try it! So, I was planning to make something simple and basic along those lines. I bought the Cajun trinity; celery, onions and green peppers (well, I cheated, I get red peppers), and a leek, which I'd never cooked before either.

When it came down to it, I couldn't find any recipes for this sort of stew based on game bird. I was 'winging it' but I didn't want to fly blind. It was getting late, so I chose a basic roasting recipe that sounded decent and modified it.

I used 2 hens, but this can be adapted for more. It can also be used for regular chicken or even better, duck. I also used Lipton Soup mix to save time. You can use fresh onions and spices in its place. The one thing about this quick recipe that didn't come out as I'd hoped is the onions didn't rehydrate very well while roasting. I would like to try making the sauce early so the onions have a chance to reconstitute more.

Preheat oven to 425

2-4 game hens
Jar of seedless raspberry jam or preserves
1 Packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 tbsp Teriyaki sauce
2 tbsp Mirin or rice vinegar

Rinse and place the hens in a casserole
Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl
Spoon sauce over birds, making sure to coat them equally well

Place the dish in the oven and immediately turn it down to 350
Cook for 30-40 minutes, basting the hens in the sauce two or three times, especially near the end

I made them with mashed potatoes as the sauce makes excellent gravy.


According to The Joy of Cooking, Cornish Game Hens are actually just small chickens and the fear of gaminess or all dark meat is unfounded. It really was pretty much like a small chicken.