Chinese (Cornish Hen) a l'Orange

Played with a Cornish Hen recipe this Thanksgiving. Learned that the freshness of the meat is a big factor in your product. As the saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. Or, in this case, amazingness in, amazingness out.


Made 10 dishes for Turkey Day for the family and was too exhausted by the end to write it all out, but I think the hen recipe bears writing down because it was so easy & delicious. I started out with a Bell & Evans hen, from the Fresh Pond Whole Foods in Cambridge. Needless to say, they were incredible (There is no Whole Foods in Buffalo, and the special chickies I've been able to locate are usually too old/large, and taste just like chicken, which is a shame). At some point I'll write down the recipes for the homemade mashed potatoes/chestnut soup/endive salad, but school calls.

Ingredients:
3 Cornish hens (Bell & Evans is best - or anything that's fresh)
1/2 c soy sauce (the chicken marinade kind)
3 tbsp white cooking wine
half an orange's worth of juice, plus plenty of zest
garlic
ginger
white pepper
Mrs. Dash (yes... I use Mrs. Dash)
dried herbs (thyme would be ideal; tarragon is great)

Directions:

Remove neck & giblets, & defeather anything missed by the machine (or whoever defeathers our poultry... thoughts for another post). You can boil these in some water for 30-40 minutes for stock if you want (except for the liver, which makes stock bitter and untasty). Or throw them in a plastic baggie in the freezer to make stock later. The liver can be chopped finely and sauteed with garlic & olive oil to spread onto toast or crackers.

In a glass mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients together and marinate hens for 4-5 hours, turning every hour or two. Make sure some of the marinade gets into the center of the cavities. The high salt content in the soy sauce dehydrates the meat, which makes it tastier for some reason (I'm really not sure why - but this is also why duck is dried before roasting when making Peking duck).

Preheat oven to 425 deg F. Roast for 10 minutes, breasts up, then immediately turn the heat down to 350, and bake for an additional 45 minutes. Check the meat to make sure the juices run clear. If juices are still pink, throw it back in for 5 minutes but please do not overcook this delicate birds.

Let them sit for at least 10 minutes before chopping them in half (lengthwise) and giving each guest a half bird.