Cornish Game Hen Recipe with Apricot Glaze (2024)

FAQs

What is apricot glaze made of? ›

Apricot glaze is a thin sauce made from apricot jam, apricot preserves, or very ripe apricots. To make apricot glaze, cooks combine apricot jam or preserves, water, liqueur, and sugar and cook the mixture on the stovetop over medium heat until it has a loose, pourable consistency.

Roast, uncovered, basting frequently with butter for 1 hour (if hen weighs over 1lb 2oz, roast 1 hour and 15 minutes) or until internal temperature on instant read thermometer reaches 180°F when inserted into inner thigh.

An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone, should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Remove from the oven, cover with a doubled sheet of aluminum foil, and allow to rest in a warm area for 10 minutes before slicing.

Half an hour before you plan to cook, bring the chickens to room temperature. Using butcher's twine, tie the chicken legs together at the ankles. Cover the wing tips with aluminum foil to prevent burning.

A BASE GLAZE is a mixture of these three basic groups: SILICA, FLUX AND ALUMINA.

Glaze: there are more than 3 basic components in glaze, these are: silica, alumina, flux, colourants and modifiers. The common ingredients in glaze colours are, “ copper oxide", “copper carbonate", “cobalt oxide" and “ iron oxide.”

Place in oven and roast for 45 minutes or until meat tested with a digital meat thermometer registers 180 F. Tips: To prevent loss of moisture, let chicken rest for 5 to 8 minutes before carving. To maintain a crispy, crunchy skin, do not tent bird with foil after removal from oven.

Roast the hens in the preheated oven for about 1 hour or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees F and the juices run clear.

I know we were all raised to rinse our poultry in the sink with water before cooking but this is actually a good way to spread bacteria. There is no need to rinse the Cornish hens or any meat before cooking.

Stick a skewer into the thickest part of the thigh. If the juices run clear, it's done. If the juices are a little pink, cook it a little longer and try again.

Is a Cornish hen 165 or 180? ›

The hens are done when they reach 165°F in the thickest part of the breast and thigh. Serve the chickens by placing one on each plate with sides.

Because of their small size, Cornish hens are perfect as a serving for one person or split in half when served with some delicious sides. I love pairing this easy roasted Cornish hen recipe with my Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes; Italian Oven Roasted Vegetables; or Brussels sprouts...

Lay a wire rack in the bottom of a big roasting pan and place 6 Cornish game hens on it. If you don't have a wire rack that fits the pan, bunch up a few pieces of aluminum foil and place these on the bottom of the pan. You can easily cut this recipe in half or a third if you only want to make 2 or 3 hens.

True Cornish game hens are young female Cornish chickens weighing about 2 pounds. Grocery-store Cornish game hens are rock Cornish cross hens of the same size. They are butchered at 4 to 5 weeks of age.

Glazes need a balance of the 3 main ingredients: Silica, Alumina and Flux. Too much flux causes a glaze to run, and tends to create variable texture on the surface. The texture may vary from shiny, where the glass is balanced, to matte where the excessive flux oxides may form visible, possibly lumpy, crystals.

Silica (or industrial sand) is the key ingredient in glass, raw clay, and ceramic glazes. Silica can be obtained naturally from quartz, sandstone, sand, or flint, or it can be manufactured as silica oxide. When making your own glazes, products like quartz, flint, and pure silica can be added as the glass-former.

A glaze is made up of three parts. A flux/melter that lowers the melting point, a refractory/stabilizer that bonds the glaze to the clay, and a glass former like silica. This creates the base and then a stain is added to give the glaze its color. It's a bit like mixing paint and a bit more like a chemistry experiment.