My Flavored Game Hen Project, From Hoof to Plate.

I know they don't have hooves, just couldn't come up with a good title for this post. :)

Home grown meat is hard to beat, very tasty stuff. I've messed around with flavoring pork before butchering and wanted to give flavoring this batch of Cornish game hens a go.
Most flavor comes from the fat of an animal. Pork and beef meat is easy to flavor but chicken meat just doesn't have the same type of fat. Most of the fat is under the skin.  I wanted to experiment with adding more fat to the birds while adding flavor too, with the intent of cooking these "skin on".

This batch of birds received their usual grain and a heavy addition of corn, garlic, scallion and ginger. They were fed twice a day.
(If you've ever raised meat breed chickens, you know that they will eat themselves to death if given the opportunity. The feed needs to be monitored and limited.)

Game hens are Cornish Rock meat breed chickens that are processed at a young age. They usually weigh between one and two pounds when butchered.

some of the corn, garlic, onion, ginger feed blend...

I kept the birds separated from the rest of the flock, but let them eat bugs, grass and weed seed. Just moved their pen several times during the day.

The birds spent the day chasing bugs and foraging for goodies..

They grew fast and were ready to process at 5 weeks.

I used my homemade chicken plucker to process the birds . I love this thing, it really saves a lot of work and time.

After dispatching the birds, I dipped them in warm/hot water to loosen the feathers before placing in the plucker..

The bottom plate of the plucker spins while the sides are stationary..

I use the garden hose to spray water into the plucker while the bird is being plucked,  this washes the feathers out of the bottom of the barrel .
I stopped the plucker to snap a pic half way through on this one...

It just takes a few minutes to clean the bird...you can put more than one in at a time.

The birds weighed from 1 lb 11oz to 2 lbs 7oz. They averaged out at 1 lb 4oz.  Some birds are more aggressive than others, so they eat more. Some had more fat content than others. 

I chill the birds overnight before packaging them for the freezer..

double wrapped..

Now for the taste test...

Into the cooker, no salt, pepper, seasoning or smoking wood. Nothing but skin-on game hen and hot coals...

The meat was moist, tender and FULL of flavor.

It could have been my imagination but the thighs and legs had a mild garlic, onion flavor.
The breast meat had more of a ginger aftertaste. There was definitely a difference in these birds and other game hens I've raised in the past.

These were the most delicious game hens I've ever tasted, whether the feed mixture had anything to do with it or not... I don't know.
I was very happy with the outcome, so I guess that's all that matters. :)

I'll be doing this again!

Dutch Oven Bierocks

I don't like to fire up the oven in the kitchen, when the weather is so hot. Guess I could do my baking at night, but it's easier to cook everything outside (if possible).
Bierocks are nice to have on hand for quick meals later. I can zap them in the microwave or just eat em cold.

I start with the dough..

1 1/4 cups of warm water
1 pkg active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 TBS oil
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (more if needed)

Dissolve the yeast in warm water, add sugar, oil and salt. Blend in flour... knead til smooth. (about 10 minutes) Cover and let it rest for one hour.

While the dough rises, I make the filling..

Brown 3 lbs of burger
add minced onions
also add as much shredded cabbage as you like. I start with one cup and add more if needed.
I like my bierocks to have more meat than cabbage.
Salt and pepper to taste. I like LOTS of black pepper. :)
Drain the grease from the mixture. Let the filling cool before using.

I just grab a ball of dough and roll it into about a 7 inch circle. I usually get 9 bierocks out of this recipe. Spoon in some of the cooled filling, then bring the edges together and pinch closed. I just eyeball amounts. 

I like to brush the bierocks with butter  before baking...

I used lump coal on this cook. Left a small amount of hot coals on the bottom and a few on the top of the dutch oven lid.

I rotate the oven and lid every so often for even cooking.  Peek after 15 minutes to see how it's going. :)

This batch took 25 minutes to brown.

They smell SO good when you first open the lid. I love hot bread. :)

I use a spoon to dig one out of the pot. :)

These take awhile to prepare but it's worth the work to have several meals on hand.


Hope everyone is keeping cool and safe from flooding and storms.
It's been hot here in Oklahoma, but I'm getting rain at least once a week. The garden is doing great!

I processed a batch of game hens that I need to post about. These were "special" birds that I fed a custom feed to flavor their meat. It worked out really well.



Those of you contacting me about chicken pluckers... good luck with your builds!
Those of you contacting me about building smokehouses... hope you send pics if you get the time.
Those of you contacting me about raising shrimp. It's too late to start this year but get your orders in for juveniles the first of next year, you should be set to go.

Thanks for stopping by!