Glorious wood fire grilled Cornish game hens. By the way, Frank Costanza was correct; it's just a small chicken. If you have a fire pit you are $20 away from being able to do this yourself.
This is the $20 I was referring to. It's a tripod grill; 3 legs with a grill grate connected to a chain to make it adjustable. I've seen them at Mill's Fleet Farm and Lowe's, and I would assume you can find them at the other big box home improvement stores for the same price.
This is how it connects on top in case anyone's interested.
Cooking the game hens:
Step one: procure some poultry and firewood. Cornish game hens are probably available at your local grocery store. If not chicken will suffice. Step two: build yourself a fire. If you cannot accomplish this simple task, find a boy scout because even small children are capable of building fires.
That looks like it'll be just fine. You'll want to start it at least two hours before you want to cook because you want the fire to be mostly smoldering coals and not too heavy on flame. Step three: spatchcock your birds. I swear it only sounds dirty, although you will need to wash your hands after. A spatchcocked chicken is one that has had its spine removed, so that it can sit flat, which makes it perfect for grilling. If you have a kitchen shears that works well otherwise a sharp knife is just as easy. Place the bird breast side down and you should feel a bone right in the center of the back. Cut along each side of that bone and you have the spine leftover. Don't forget to wash your hands. Save the spines for the next time you want to make chicken stock.
This is what they look like when they're sitting flat. I also put them on a rack on top of a sheet tray so that the skin will dry out, which make it easier to get it nice and crispy. They are seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Step four: cook your birds. Hopefully at this point your fire has died down a bit, so that you only have a couple pieces of solid wood and lots of smoldering coals.
This is a perfect cooking fire. This is what you want.
Finally, birds over a fire. This fire is HOT. Reeeaally hot. I start the chicken about 12 inches above the coals, skin side down with the legs and thighs towards the center of the fire because dark meat takes longer to cook. There's a lot of fat in chicken skin and it is going to start rendering out immediately once the chicken gets over the coals. Fat burns when it hits fire, so there's going to be some flare ups. If the flames start to get close to the chicken, adjust the height of the grill. The chicken is ready to be flipped when the skin looks golden brown. There's a lot more danger of the chicken burning on the skin side, so the majority of the cooking takes place on the other side. Step five: flip your birds.
This is how you want the chicken to look when you flip it. The skin has rendered out its fat and is golden brown and delicious. Since some of the coals will have burned down to ash and the chicken is harder to burn on this side, you can lower the grill to about 10 inches above the coals. Notice that I've put my digital thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. That's what I'm using to determine if they're done. I keep lowering the grill as the coals grow smaller. As long as you don't see any large flare ups, you should be alright.
Woah, it's a little smokey in this picture. That's one of the reasons this cooking method is so fantastic. It's also great because the hot fire makes the chicken really crispy and delicious as you can see in the picture. I flipped them back onto their skin side and pointed the thick part of the breast toward the center of the fire to finish them. I pull them off when they hit 160 degrees then put aluminum foil over them, and let them rest for 10 minutes. They'll continue cooking and reach 165 degrees, which is the final temp that you want chicken to cook to.
WWWWWHHAATT!!! THAT CHICKEN LOOKS SOOOO GOOOODD!!! Oh, it was. Take my word for it. Or just get off your butt, start a fire, and get grilling. Yeah I agree, that's a way better idea.
