Cornish Hens For Chicken Turn-in

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PatioDaddio

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I turned in Cornish game hens for my chicken turn-in at a competition last weekend and had good results (7th of 28 -- 162.2860).

I cooked them spatchcocked, and carved them into breasts and leg quarters just before they hit the box. My box had four breasts and four leg quarters. Sorry, but my picture came out horrible, but I'll see if I can fix it.

I am curious as to who else has tried this and what you think of it.

Thanks,
John
 
I actually wanted to try it, I was gonna do 6 halves. box isnt big enough. got to give you some credit for thinking outside the thigh..
 
Smokin' Gnome BBQ said:
I actually wanted to try it, I was gonna do 6 halves. box isnt big enough.
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Ditto. I didn't practice it before showing up to the comp with four hens. It quickly became painfully obvious that six halves were not gonna work. I was committed at that point, so I went with the breasts and quarters.

John
 
We've considered trying them as well. Sure would like to see that box!:icon_blush:
 
PatioDaddio said:
Ditto. I didn't practice it before showing up to the comp with four hens. It quickly became painfully obvious that six halves were not gonna work. I was committed at that point, so I went with the breasts and quarters.

John
Click to expand...

John wow that takes stones to try something like that at a competiton but have to give you credit for trying. Well done! You my friend may have started a new trend! Way to go!
 
I've known some top teams that have tried these and also leg quarters... They did not fair so well. I think the judges got cold feet and bombed them.. just because it was away from the norm...
 
Scottie said:
I've known some top teams that have tried these and also leg quarters... They did not fair so well. I think the judges got cold feet and bombed them.. just because it was away from the norm...
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And that is what makes the judging so sad these days......

God forbid if someone tries to use a little imagination. :sad:

I'm judging my first contest tomorrow and am going in with an OPEN mind!

I think Theresa's turning in chicken salad. :twisted:

So sorry to get off track.
 
guy next to us at Elk Grove in 08 did them. He actually tried to jam 6 half hens in a box - didn't work so well.
 
As I just said on another forum, I judged some at Lakeland a few years ago. They were beautiful, cooked to perfection and very tasty and I awarded them high scores in those categories. I had to score them down on texture because I got a mouthful of tiny bones with each little bite, which was too bad.

I only cook 2 or 3 contests a year and turn in wings, so I'm sure not the person to be giving you advice. As a judge I don't care what chicken part comes to my plate. I judge it for its own merit. Personally, I'm sick of rubbery buttery thighs and look forward to seeing something a little different. Something that tastes like chicken!
 
Scottie said:
I've known some top teams that have tried these and also leg quarters... They did not fair so well. I think the judges got cold feet and bombed them.. just because it was away from the norm...
Click to expand...
That's what I was afraid of, Scottie. Fortunately, the Snowbird judges were very fair.

John
 
Just Pulin' Pork said:
John wow that takes stones to try something like that at a competiton but have to give you credit for trying. Well done! You my friend may have started a new trend! Way to go!
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Thanks, but I think it was more crazy than courageous. :-D

John
 
Scottie said:
I think the judges got cold feet and bombed them.. just because it was away from the norm...
Click to expand...

J Appledog said:
As a judge I don't care what chicken part comes to my plate. I judge it for its own merit. Personally, I'm sick of rubbery buttery thighs and look forward to seeing something a little different. Something that tastes like chicken!
Click to expand...

Personally, I agree with Julie :-D, although there are a lot of (too many) judges that fall under Scottie's observation :sad:.

A few times I've seen, and enjoyed, a box that had Cornish hind quarters, chicky or Cornish boobs, drummies, even wings. I try to go by how the cook presented what he cooked. To me - gimme something new, something different, something that makes me say "WOW" - not the same old, same old. But then, that's just me :rolleyes:.
 
Well, I doctored the craptastic picture as best I could and here it is. That's what I get for not taking the good camera on the road.

The breasts are on the right and leg quarters on the left. I had 90 seconds left to turn it in, so the foremost leg is pointing the opposite way of the others (bone up -- not down). I hated doing it, but it was time to go.

I hit the table at 12:04:04.

2009_Snowbird_Chicken_2.jpg


John
 
Nice job on the hens...Wish they had came accross my table..
 
Thanks Doug. They came from my table and I didn't even taste them. :shock: :-D

John
 
We did Cornish leg quarters one time.
Earned our only DAL ever! :oops:

In all fairness, they were not really that well done---but DAL?

My hat is off to anyone who can get them to work for them.

TIM
 
Hey John, I think they look great... I heard that you had done them and was hoping to get a chance to see them. I turned in what I had thought was one of my best chick entries ever and ended up well below where you did... All Frankenwines fault I'm sure:lol:
 
Bbq Bubba said:
And that is what makes the judging so sad these days......

God forbid if someone tries to use a little imagination. :sad:
Click to expand...


I couldn't agree more.
I refused to cook thighs for almost 3 years. For almost 3 years I finished in the bottom of the pack in chicken. As soon as I switched to thighs things got a lot better.

On the upside, this time a little imagination got a pretty good score.
I think the box looked great.
Perhaps you can start the great chicken revolution of 2009
 
Thanks for the encouragement. I think I'll try them again to see if the Snowbird results were a fluke.

I found them a ton easier to prep than thighs. I spent maybe a minute per bird. Oh, and the skin was a dream to crisp up.

So, in summary...

  1. They are easier to transport and size (each is self-contained and frozen solid)
  2. They are dream to prep
  3. They cook faster
  4. The skin is easy to crisp
  5. My scores went up
What's not to like?

On the down side...

  1. They require post-cook carving (they were cooked as halves)
  2. They are harder to make look nice in the box.
  3. With four leg quarters and four breasts, you run the risk of two judges getting white or dark meat when they prefer the other.

John
 
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