The Not-So-Big Bird

CORNISH HENS MAKE SMALL GATHERINGS SPECIAL

By Sara Sullivan

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

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The single-serving Cornish game hen is an elegant alternative to turkey for small Thanksgiving get-togethers. This pretty little bird was prepared by business writer Kim Souza.
Photo by David Frank Dempsey

Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful to be alive and to revel in that joy with those closest to us - family.

Mental images of bustling homes bursting with scads of sweater-clad relatives, steaming serving dishes, scampering pets and crayon-strewn kiddie tables are the first to surface, usually followed by memories of merciless banter, a slightly dry mutilated turkey carcass and at least one child moping in timeout.

But families aren’t always big, and they don’t always need a 23-pound turkey and its endless remnants.

Consider the newly married couple. Or the single parent and child. The small group of neighbors. The elderly sisters.

The empty-nesters, who - despite the name - want a nice bird for the holidays.

To what poultry should these Thanksgivers turn?

The petit Cornish game hen.

Weighing 2 pounds readyto-cook, the specialty birds serve one person with heaps of elegance and luxury. Each diner gets his very own hen, stuffed to the brim with festivity. And dressing.

Despite its somewhat exotic name, a Cornish game hen isn’t Cornish nor is it necessarily a hen, for that matter. It is simply a young chicken - male or female - usually five to six weeks old. They are bred (originally from a Cornish male with a White Plymouth Rock female) to be slow-growing, large-breasted birds, reported Northwest Arkansas Newspapers business writer Kim Souza in her recentarticle on the hens’ slowing commercial demand. Twothirds of the national Cornish hen market is owned by Tyson Foods Inc., and is processed exclusively in the company’s Randall Road plant in Springdale, which handles more than 1 million Cornish game hens per week, she reported.

But the very reason Cornish game hens are becoming less popular among cash-strapped consumers - their singleserving value - is what makes them so appealing, especially during the holiday season. Cute and quick-cooking (lightningspeed compared to a thick turkey), a small bird has all the presentational appeal of a grand gobbler without the pantsunbuttoning consequences of over-indulging or the dayslong parade of leftover turkey remakes.

And that’s reason enough tobe thankful.

Roasted Cornish Game Hens

1 large Spanish onion, sliced

1 large lemon, cut into wedges

2 Cornish hens

Cornbread Stuffing, recipe follows

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Garlic powder

Juice from two lemons

Fresh garlic gloves

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Place the sliced onion and lemon wedges in the bottom of a roasting pan. Rinse the hens inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers and pat the outsides dry. Place the hens on top of the sliced onion and lemon bed.

Pack the cavities of the henswith the cornbread stuffing.

Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the hens. Rub the hens with garlic gloves, olive oil and lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper and lightly dust with garlic powder.

Roast the hens for 45 minutes, or until the juices run clear when the hens are cut between a leg and thigh.

Serves 2.

Cornbread Stuffing

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup yellow onion,chopped

2 1/2 cups cornbread

1 celery stalk, diced

1/4 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a large saute pan. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes overmedium-low heat, until translucent. Break the cornbread into pieces and place the pieces in a large bowl. Add the onion mixture to the cornbread. Add the celery, chicken stock, parsley, salt and pepper, and mix together.

Yields 2 servings.

Life, Pages 9 on 11/25/2009

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