Cornish Gold

Menu Note:

• For this dish I made very few changes to a recipe by Emeril Lagasse that I found on the Cooking Channel web site.

The Ingredients (for 2 to 4 servings):

• 2 large or 4 small Cornish game hens, together weighing approximately 1800 g (or 4 lb)
• 55 g (or 4 tablespoons) of unsalted butter
• 6 g (or 1 tablespoon) of fresh thyme leaves
• 3 Meyer lemons
• 25 ml (or 1½ tablespoons) of soy sauce
• stevia equivalent of 100 ml (or ⅓ cup) of honey
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• cooking grade olive oil

The Method:

The Cornish game hens may be prepared for cooking as described in instructions on the Major League Grilling web site. Below are my photos of the main steps in that procedure.

Wash the hens and place them breast-down on a cutting board

Cut through the ribs on both sides of the backbone

Remove the backbone

Cut around the small carina, or breast bone

Lift the bone out and discard it

Turn the hens over and cut a slit in the loose skin on the inside of each thigh

Thread each drumstick end through the slit

Fold each wing tip back behind the rest of the wing and the shoulder

1. Place the spatchcocked hens back into the refrigerator to stay cool.
2. Meanwhile, finely chop the thyme, and grate the zest of one lemon.
3. Melt the butter over gentle heat, and add the thyme and lemon zest to it.
4. Squeeze all three lemons and add the juice to the melted butter.
5. Add the soy sauce and stevia to the butter mixture, and whisk just enough to make an emulsion. 
6. Pour enough of the butter mixture into a roasting pan to a depth of about 3 mm (or ⅛ inch). Set the remainder of the mixture aside.
7. Set the oven to heat to 190°C (or 375°F).
8. Take the hens out of the refrigerator and wipe them dry with paper towels.
9. Season them with salt and pepper according to your taste. 
   
10. Coat the bottom of a large pan with a thin film of olive oil, and heat it over medium heat.
11. Place each hen, skin side down, in the pan and sear it for 4 minutes; turn it over and sear the inside surface for 4 minutes also.
12. When each hen is seared, place it, skin side up, in the roasting pan.
13. When all the hens are assembled in the pan, drizzle the remaining butter mixture over them.
14. Roast the chickens in the oven for 30 minutes or until the desired internal temperature is reached.
15. Serve the roasting juices in a gravy boat or sauce bowl.