The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Cornish Hens like a Pro

I'm giving you options, folks, for Christmas. Check this out. We doing cornish ends. Let's get it. Okay, so look, the first thing we finna do is we finna hit the bake, because we got a preheat, right? We're gonna do it at 400 degrees. We're gonna hit start, and there we go. Okay, so look, we building up heat, right? So you see my ingredients. Don't forget all of my recipes on my website, Smokin' and Grillin' with AB.com, and that's W-I-T-A-B.com, right? So look, I'm gonna take a little spray, a little non-stick cooking spray. Most everybody use like PAM. That's like the main thing, the main brand, right? So got that there. Now this is what we gonna do. Oh, have I introduced this to y'all yet? Check it out. There go the hens, the cornish hens. Listen, you know, I let them thaw out in the refrigerator. You know, got them yesterday morning early, just put them in the refrigerator. They thaw out real nice. You can see, and they small. Now listen, if your people got a big appetite, you can actually give one of these. It depends on the size. You can give the actual person a whole bird, but I'm gonna just say, listen, if you're doing it a little bit on the sensible side, you know what I mean? These are a little bit, kind of like the larger size, you know what I mean? You could probably just put one of these, you know, a couple of these out, maybe three to four, and that'll feed a family of eight. Now, this is what we gonna do. We got these potatoes right here. These have already been washed and cleaned, right? They just had some time to dry. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna move this right here, and I'm gonna cut these like this, right? And we'll just stick them, you know, in here. I'm gonna get all different. The thing is, I want them to all be about the same size, right? Now, listen, just like we do the stews or any other meat that we sit in, you know, in there and cook it for a minute, you know you'd like to have a bed, right? So I'm gonna go ahead and cut down my onion, right? What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna quarter it. So I'm gonna take a little bit of this thyme, and I'm just gonna add it, you know, like this. I'm gonna put a little bit more on top, and then I'm gonna put a couple of these sprigs of, you know, rosemary. Now, I'm gonna add a little bit of carrot to it. Okay, so look, I got an array of seasonings, right? I'm gonna single this one out right here. You see that right there? Look, that is this. There's a lot of people out there that went out and got this. Listen, this is a gem here. But you see this right here? This is made by Branch & Vine. This is a bacon sea salt. This right here is a vegan product. So listen, when I tell you something that tastes great, it's just a combination of everything they put together along with the salt just makes a nice, smoky bacon, you know, flavor of sea salt. And then when you use that, a lot of times I substitute my salt mainly with this right here. You guys gotta get it. I'll leave a link down in the comment section below, and it'll be, you know, it's in my store on the website. You guys gotta check it out. This right here is fire, folks. Now, I'm gonna take it. We're gonna put it all in this bowl, because I gotta get it all mixed up. This is what you want. This right here is something nice as far as like a poultry seasoning goes, but really, really a great blend, you know, for these cornish hens. All right, so this is my Branch & Vine infused olive oil. Right? So listen, this is what I keep it out here so you guys can see. This is garlic infused. You can look at the color and see it's like a little bit of a darker green tint. This right here is fire, folks. And it comes from Italy, so I know it's the greatest, you know what I mean? Because they got the, supposed to have the best, you know, olives on the planet, right? So this is it. I'm gonna set this over here so you guys can take a look at that. Now, I'm gonna put a little bit here, on here, right? And the reason I say that is because I gotta stay disciplined. I gotta keep my dry hen, and it's the hen that I'm gonna massage and get everything. This is gonna be my binder. This is gonna give it some good, you know, flavor, right? Trust me, folks. You can read the comments. People always come back and just say, hey, they glad they was turned on to this Branch & Vine. You know what I mean? It's fire. Now, I take that dry hen. Look. Then we just go ahead and start to season. All this is gonna be key, okay? So then once they're done, on that side, we turn them over. I'm getting ready to go ahead and just place these on here like this, right? Now, I'm gonna let it sit up for about 10 minutes. You know what I mean? Just so it can soak inside, sweat, and do whatever it's gonna do, right? So, I'm gonna go in here like this. And the reason I'm gonna do it this way, I just wanna show you because really what I wanna do is I wanna have enough space. Now, you saw me do three, right? I'm looking at this, it's really only gonna take two of these, right? So, I'm gonna go ahead and just put this here because you're gonna want a little space in between them. But you see how they look right there? That's what you wanna come out with, right? And then don't forget, we're gonna cook these because we want these breasts right here to be 165. That's when chicken is fully cooked. This one right here, I'm gonna set on a separate dish and stick this in the oven also. But this is what we're finna work with. But I got a little level up for you. I'm gonna pour a little bit of, because I wanna get a little steam, right? So, I'm gonna go ahead and pour a little bit of that chicken stock or chicken broth, whatever I got in my refrigerator. I'm finna put a little bit of that in there. All right, so I got myself a little chicken broth, right? And I just pour this down on the bottom because I wanna get a little bit of the steam, right? So, you'll see it. It'll travel through, you know what I mean? I don't wanna hold a lot. I just wanna just barely coat the bottom of it. Once I see all of it is touched, and then for good measures, I'm gonna show you one more thing too. So, I'm gonna take my base seasoning, and I'm just gonna season just a little bit around, right? Because I want all of that in there. Because look, I might make myself some gravy. You guys have been watching me for a minute. You know how to make it. We'll use these drippings along with that to make some gravy. I'm not gonna smother them. What I'm gonna do is just set it off to the side. For those who wanna put a little bit on there, they can. But I like that option. Now, I'm already up to temp. Let me go ahead and put this in there. Oh, let me just say this part too. I'm gonna be watching it. I'm gonna be checking on it, right? Because we're going in for about 40 minutes, 45 minutes. Right? So, I'm gonna say in about 20 minutes, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna look at it, and if it's starting to brown too much, I'm gonna go ahead and put a light cover. I'm not gonna tuck it in. I'm gonna put some foil over the top. Just make a little bit of a tent just to protect it, right? Because we're putting this out for the holiday. All right. So, remember I talked about putting the tent over the top. I'm gonna go ahead and remove this so you guys can see. You see that right there? That's a masterpiece. Really, you're cooking because it's about the presentation. It's Christmas, right? So, you want it to be just like how you see it. You know what I mean? You don't want it too dark. You can see all of the seasons on there. You see that dark right there? That right there. Ooh, my God. Let me quit talking. Okay, folks, just to give you a recap before I go ahead and cut this, right? I use a meat thermometer. I know our grandparents, you know, maybe even your mama, she didn't use one of these, but I do. You want to check your meat, right? I check my hens and I make sure that I come up with, you know what I mean? I want to be like at least 163 when I take it out. It's okay because it's gonna rise just a little bit because this is a smaller piece of poultry, right? So, these hens was at 162 actually when I took them out. If I check them now, they done had a little time to cool because you know we got to do that photoshoot. Now, with that being said, check it out. I'm gonna go ahead. This is my beautiful one right here. And then don't forget, I put the third one in there. It's ready too. But I'm gonna go ahead and just cut this right here and we're just gonna cut this like this, right? And I want you guys to see the inside of that. You see that right there? This is what you want. Now, you see all of this juices down here on the bottom. Now, I'll tell you, you guys can make it like a little gravy or whatever, but I don't want to do nothing smothered. It's the holiday, folks. You know what? Let me stop talking and let me eat. Cheers, y'all. Now, talk to me, folks. I got it. We do traditional, what? Some people do the turkey. You might be tired of the turkey because of Thanksgiving, or some of us do, what is that? Hams and all of that. This right here, you can put this on the indivisible plate with some asparagus, you know what I mean? Or just whatever. But for me, I do the cornish end. I like to have a little bit of that gravy on my mashed potatoes. You know what I mean? And for me, being honest with y'all, I love broccoli. So you guys talk to me down in the comment section below and let me know what you guys would do it with. You know, with all that being said, if you're new to my channel, don't forget to like, subscribe, you know, tell the whole world out there, right? There's a channel out here that's simplifying these recipes and taking the mystery out of cooking. And before I go, I'm gonna tell everybody, happy holidays. And for those of you guys that love it this way, Merry Christmas. I'm out. Peace.