Cornish game hen like chicken wings. Of course.
I love poultry, I really do. Duck. Goose. Chicken. Every kind except the torture chickens they mass produce on torture chicken farms. But a good organic bird roasted—that’s my comfort food. I brine it and leave it in the fridge overnight, then I dry it off and roast it at high heat. Or I dry brine it, and the rest pretty much the same. With roasted carrots. And I save all the bones to make stock for soup later.
So, needless to say, I love Buffalo wings. But I do not love deep frying at home. Alas. This means no fried chicken for me, not the real kind, not even the only half deep fried—I think you have to be Southern, or Vietnamese or Thai, to manage that. And for the longest time, I sighed when I thought of Buffalo wings. No wings for me. Oh well.
But then, as often happens, other inspired cooks got it together and worked out ways to roast chicken wings so they were practically exactly the same taste as the deep fried (though of course nothing is—still, close is good in Buffalo wings and horseshoes). Bon Appetit has a particularly good version of this kind of recipe. You dry the wings. You toss them with a mixture of baking soda, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and kosher salt. For best results, you spread them out on a rack over a foil covered baking pan and leave uncovered in the fridge overnight. Then, and this is important, you cook them at a very low temperature for a half hour, and then for a very high temperature for another half hour. That’s what keeps them succulent. Lovely.
The other night, I had a Cornish game hen waiting for one of my solitary week’s dinners, what with my vegetarian husband gone to Mexico to work for awhile. I stared at that game hen. I thought about brining it. Wet brine? Dry brine? Roasted, of course. Then I found my mind’s palate wistfully returning to the Buffalo wings I’d roasted a few weeks ago.
A little light went off. Why not? Why not cook the game hen the same way I cooked the chicken wings?
Indeed why not. I did. And I’m here to tell you, it made a Cornish game hen that surpassed all former Cornish game hens. Crispy garlicky skin. Succulent meat. And I saved the bones in the freezer with my other chicken bones for stock. Along with some tiny Farmer’s Market carrots roasted in duck fat, and a salad tossed with shallots marinated in lime and a bit of olive oil, it was not just a heavenly dinner, but a heavenly lunch when I ate the leftover half the next day.
Here’s how (with thanks to Bon Appetit):
For 2 people, or 1 person for two meals.
–1 Cornish game hen, defrosted, split down the back, flattened, and dried as much as possible with paper towels.
–1/2 tsp baking powder
–1/2 tsp garlic powder
–4 tsp kosher salt
— 1 tsp cracked black pepper
–1 tsp onion salt
Add all of these to a bowl, and toss with the game hen, covering it on both sides.
Arrange the game hen breast side up on a roasting rack over a foil covered roasting pan. Refrigerate anything from an hour (at least) to overnight till next dinner. (NOTE: I have, in the past, left chicken wings prepared like this in the fridge for two days—unexpected guests who brought fish tacos were deliciously to blame—and there was no sign of any problem. Just saying.)
When you want to cook, preheat oven to 250 degrees. Put game hen in and leave for thirty minutes. Raise the oven temperature to 500 degrees. Check after 25 minutes, but probably you’ll want to leave it in the full half hour. The game hen should be golden brown/mahogany brown and crispy.
If you like it the way I do, at the same time also roast a small pan of scrubbed carrots tossed in melted duck or chicken fat, salted.
Serve with a salad.
Fabulous. Cross my heart.