Thanksgiving: Smoked Cornish Hens Stuffed with Wild Rice, Sausage and Apple Stuffing

[chilerelleno]

The Thanksgiving Capon got nixed and so I went with Cornish Hens.
These Hens were on the larger side at 1.75-2lbs each, and at $12-14. each they ended up costing more than the Capon.
However these were much meatier than the scrawny little 1-1.25lb Tyson birds they had in the next bin, and it was a no-brainer going with the larger hens.

So I started by making a stuffing that consisted of wild rice cooked in chicken broth, sage pork sausage, diced apple and sweet onion, roasted chopped pecans, brown sugar, bacon grease and a little more chicken broth, and a bouquet garni of various herbs.

Once the stuffing was cooked and cooled a bit I used it to stuff the Cornish Hens.
Tied the leg crossed to hold in the stuffing, pinned the wings to the body and laid them in the smoker.
Brushed them with a mix of butter and balsamic vinegar, then dusted them with a herb mix.
Smoker was set for 400° and they cooked to an IT of 165° in the breast, cook time was about an hour and twenty minutes.

Look at those hens coming along so nicely!

And done! Ready for Thanksgiving Dinner.
Most were served halved, but a few hearty eaters took a whole bird.
Served various sides, shown with green bean casserole and extra stuffing.

Capon in the freezer, I'll get around to it sometime.

 

[chopsaw]

That's an awesome cook .

 

[pc farmer]

Beautiful

 

[Texas Cookin']

Orale Chile! Love it man.

Fred

 

[Gonna Smoke]

John, those are things of beauty right there!!

 

[chilerelleno]

That's an awesome cook .

Thanks Chopsaw!

Beautiful

Appreciate it Adam!

Órale Chile! Love it man.

Fred

Muchois Gracias Fred!

John, those are things of beauty right there!!

Very kind of ya Charles, thank you!

 

[Fueling Around]

That is so .. It needs to get featured on the ride not only for the great smoke, but the recipe of making hens. Not a common cook.
I love those little birds, but rarely eat them as the price difference which makes no sense. I can get a farm raised 5# yound and tender hen for $10

I make a much simpler version of your stuffing. Box of Uncle Ben's wild rice and long grain mix and pound of pork sausage. Taste and add more sage and other seasonings as needed.

I cooked hens at a Scouting event over 10 years ago and it is still the benchmark meal talked about today. A guy brought a dozen he got from an event at the gun club. He won a few and when explaining it was for scouting, the other winners all donated.
Stuffed with the Uncle Ben's loaded into a huge dutch oven with taters I from a farmer and carrots and onions from another leader's garden.

 

[indaswamp]

Outstanding! I did not know they still classified chickens that size as cornish hens...the more you know. Great color on those birds for sure, and I bet that stuffing rocks!

 

[chilerelleno]

That is so .. It needs to get featured on the ride not only for the great smoke, but the recipe of making hens. Not a common cook.
I love those little birds, but rarely eat them as the price difference which makes no sense. I can get a farm raised 5# yound and tender hen for $10

I make a much simpler version of your stuffing. Box of Uncle Ben's wild rice and long grain mix and pound of pork sausage. Taste and add more sage and other seasonings as needed.

I cooked hens at a Scouting event over 10 years ago and it is still the benchmark meal talked about today. A guy brought a dozen he got from an event at the gun club. He won a few and when explaining it was for scouting, the other winners all donated.
Stuffed with the Uncle Ben's loaded into a huge dutch oven with taters I from a farmer and carrots and onions from another leader's garden.

Thank you so much John for the Like and compliments on the cook.

I'm with ya all the way.
Both on loving these lil'birds, Scouts and Dutch Oven cooking.

The price of specialty poultry is insane.
Cornish hens spend half the time/money on care and feeding and then charge twice the price.
And the Capons too, rooster castration doesn't warrant $10.+ per pound.

I did Scouts as did my younger son, we both enjoyed it.
I believe I enjoyed Scouts more as an adult helping out on camping trips and other outings, and teaching some Dutch Oven/Campfire cooking.

 

[chilerelleno]

Outstanding! I did not know they still classified chickens that size as cornish hens...the more you know. Great color on those birds for sure, and I bet that stuffing rocks!

Thanks Inda!
They really did turn out real nice, as I keep saying, "The Recteq is a poultry machine!"

Info I have on poultry says they're processed at 4-6 weeks old and 1-2lbs.

§70.201 Chickens.
The following are the various classes of chickens:
(a) Rock Cornish game hen or Cornish game hen. A Rock Cornish game hen or Cornish
game hen is a young immature chicken (usually 5 to 6 weeks of age), weighing not more than
2 pounds ready-to-cook weight, which was prepared from a Cornish chicken or the progeny of a
Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken

So these are as big as they get before being being reclassified.
Like I was saying about the Tyson birds, they were half the size and are sold everywhere.

 

[DRKsmoking]

Nice flock of birds John.
I bet that stuffing tasted great, and great colour on them also.

David

 

[Chris_in_SoCal]

10 out of 10 on the color of the hens.

OK, that sentence was a little cornish.

 

[chilerelleno]

Nice flock of birds John.
I bet that stuffing tasted great, and great colour on them also.

David

Thank you very much David!

The stuffing turned out pretty good.
It had plenty of savory but not enough sweet, next time I'm adding more apple and maybe some raisins.

 

[chilerelleno]

10 out of 10 on the color of the hens.

OK, that sentence was a little cornish.

You're very gracious Chris, and it's much appreciated!

 

[sawhorseray]

Class A job from start to finish, gorgeous piece of work there John! RAY

 

[Steve H]

Phenomenal looking hens John!

 

[DRKsmoking]

maybe some raisins.

That would work for me .

But I would be fine with however you supply it to my plate

David

 

[chilerelleno]

Class A job from start to finish, gorgeous piece of work there John! RAY

Aw schucks Ray, too kind good sir!

Phenomenal looking hens John!

Thanks Steve, thank you very much!

That would work for me .

But I would be fine with however you supply it to my plate

David

Thanks David, I have leftover birds, where ya at?

 

[civilsmoker]

Very nice the color on those birds!

 

[JLeonard]

Man those look great! One thing i have never cooked. Looking at yours I might have to change that very soon!

Jim