# Cornish game hens tonight..crispy skins on mes.



## tpalmen (Oct 15, 2013)

View media item 262192
Dry rub of paprika, onion pwd, sugar, s/p, cumin.  Rest in fridge for couple hrs.  Put in mes cold then set to 275 with hickory chips and mesquite.  Lots of smoke, added more chips after about one hour.  Basted hens with an orange juice reduction at ~140 degrees.  Cooked to 165 after about 2 hours and here's the result. Skins are actually crispy and the meat was oozing juices, so yummy.


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## ksmoker (Oct 15, 2013)

Looks really good, great job


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## tpalmen (Oct 15, 2013)

Thanks, this site has a lot of traffic..I posted late and still got looks.


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## chef jimmyj (Oct 15, 2013)

They look great. Does your MES run a true 275° or a little hotter?...JJ


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## mdboatbum (Oct 15, 2013)

Those look awesome!! I like the idea of the orange juice reduction. Seems like it would almost give a caramel/honey glaze effect depending on how much it was reduced. Thanks for the idea!!


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## woodcutter (Oct 15, 2013)

Beautiful birds!


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## smokinhusker (Oct 15, 2013)

Those look fantastic and the orange juice reduction would be a nice addition. I use OJ in my poultry brine.

Your MES must run hot - my MES set at 275° only gets up to about 255-260°


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## dan - firecraft (Oct 15, 2013)

Nice looking hens!


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## pearlheartgtr (Oct 15, 2013)

Very nice! I've been toying with tossing some game hens into my MES. The crispy skins don't surprise me at all. The very first thing I smoked was a chicken and it came out beautiful with a crispy skin, that is until I tented it in foil to rest. The condensation turned the skin to rubber.


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## jerry reddick (Oct 15, 2013)

Oh My!  Those look absolutely lovely!  Thanks for Sharing!


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## foamheart (Oct 15, 2013)

Those looks amazin! Do not believe I ever saw game hens that big! Oooooo.... is that your smoking notebook there too?


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## kathrynn (Oct 15, 2013)

Those are Beautiful!

Kat


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## dirtsailor2003 (Oct 15, 2013)

Tasty looking chicks!


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## tpalmen (Oct 15, 2013)

I haven't checked the actual temp vs digital reading, on my to do list for next smoke.  The hens were under 2 lbs, the picture just made em look bigger.  What I did for the reduction was 1 shallot as small as I could dice it sauted in butter until soft.  I added 1 cup chicken stock and juice from 3 oranges (just under a cup).  Reduced until slightly syrupy.  Off heat.  Added 2 T apple cider vinegar and splash of tabasco.  Good stuff.


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## disco (Oct 15, 2013)

Great looking birds. I wouldn't mind one of those right now. Thanks for posting.

Disco


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## desertdenizen (Oct 15, 2013)

Please pardon my ignorance, but WTF is an MES?


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## disco (Oct 15, 2013)

desertdenizen said:


> Please pardon my ignorance, but WTF is an MES?


A mess short of one s. Sorry, it is a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker.


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## humdinger (Oct 15, 2013)

desertdenizen said:


> Please pardon my ignorance, but WTF is an MES?


LOL - this literally made me laugh. And no, I'm not laughing at you, it's just that not too much swearing goes on in this forum so the "WTF" kinda caught me off guard. Thanks for the chuckle Desert.

Yeah this forum has lots o' acronyms (SPOG) and initialisms (ECB, WSM, etc..) It took me about 4 months to finally say AMZNPS correctly every time!

This should help you out. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/acronyms

Lastly, thanks TPalmen for the reduction recipe. Sounds and looks SO GOOD!


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## schmitzmoke (Oct 17, 2013)

Try the hens on an 8oz beer can, it works great,,,, Beer Butt Hens!













WP_20130720_003.jpg



__ schmitzmoke
__ Jul 30, 2013


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## foamheart (Oct 17, 2013)

And you used Butt Lite cans too...


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## schmitzmoke (Oct 17, 2013)

Yes I did,,, the birds seemed happy. One for each bird and the rest for me!!  The 24 packs were on sale here in Tampa last month. They're a nice size as long as the fridge is close by,,,


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## GaryHibbert (Oct 17, 2013)

Looks fantastic.  Gotta try this

Gary


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## newbsmoke (Oct 19, 2013)

I have 2 in the freezer and have been thinking to smoke them instead of cook them my usual way.  Thanks for the inspiration hopefully mine turn out half as good as yours!!!


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## cactuskid (Oct 20, 2013)

We love beer butt chicken. I make it all the time.


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## cathy w (Nov 8, 2014)

I'm new to the smoking world! I have a new MES and I'm going to try the crispy game hen recipe today!


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## oldschoolbbq (Nov 8, 2014)

Oh, are you the one going on about then 'Mini -Birds 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






   I keep seeing them more and more lately . . .
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





But , those look really good , you can  tell the skin is crisp in the picture .
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   Kidding aside , I gotta do some of them , the time frame got me 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Great job...have fun and . . .


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