Rotisserie Cornish Hens (with Pix)

For my birthday in August, my wife got me the Weber Rotisserie kit for my Summit Gold grill. (Boy, does she know her man)
Last night, we had friends over, and I decided to do Rotisserie Cornish hens- each guest got their own bird. I thought it would be very festive, and unique.

Based on previous Rotisserie experience, I decided not to go with an oil based marinade (too many flareups) and went with my favorite rub (one cup paprika, two cups brown sugar, two tbs allspice, two tbs garlic powder, 3 tbs Kosher Salt, and usually I add 2 tbs of heat, like chili powder, but I had to pass this time as some of the guests are not fond of spicy hot food).

I rubbed the hens inside out, and let them sit overnight in the fridge.

an hour and a half before dinner, I tied rosemary skwerers to the spit, and mounted the 8 birds and let it go for about 75 minutes. no baste, no liquids, just let it go round and round, turning nice and brown, and very crispy.

took the birds off the spit when everyone sat down for dinner, and let them rest while we had the corn cowder my wife made, which was delicious. Then we served the hens to each person in their plate, with a bunch of sides, and that was that!

so:
The good: The hens were perfectly cooked. Breast moist, skin crispy and very flavorful
the challenge: some people had a really hard time carving their own bird. when I suggested they dig in with their fingers (with me leading the way, of course) some were into it, and some were kind of... not... Lesson learned: A whole bird (or fish, for that matter) is not for everyone.

Here is a picture of the birds on the spit:


here is another angle, note the little flare up...


here is the final product


I had fun, but unfortunatly, some of my guests didn't.

Great pictures .... and that last one says it ALL!

"Great pictures" is right! Those birds look delicious! Happy belated birthday!

dliwer wrote:

Lesson learned: A whole bird (or fish, for that matter) is not for everyone. ... I had fun, but unfortunatly, some of my guests didn't.

Too bad for them. Growing up, I loved having "baby chickens" for dinner. It was cool to have an entire bird there, and we could use our fingers and not catch flack. That was cool.

WOW! Those hens look great and I would rip 'em apart with my fingers no problem!

This has me thinking about getting a rotisserie kit now. I've got a Weber Summit. Are these rotisserie kits fairly universal, or is there a company (weber?) that makes them specifically for Weber Grills?

Great pictures, and thanks for the idea!
ericd

Being that my wife knows what a fanatic about grilling and smoking I am, she did a lot of research before buying me this kit. There are MANY kits available in the market, some as cheap as $30-40 and some made by Weber, tailor made for specific grills.

The quality varies GREATLY. Mine is a Weber Rotisserie, made for my specific grill. It's the same kit they ship with the grill for the models with the Rotisserie included. The spit is stainless steel, as are the "holders" (I have no idea what they are called... you know the thingies that hold the meat in place with the skewers)

Even with the Weber quality, I was really concerned that the 8 birds will weigh to much for the engine, but it worked super well.

The only interesting thing was that the birds that were on the very end of the spit (birds 1 and cooked slightly slower, which I was concerned would lead me to overcook the other birds, but it all worked out fine at the end.

Originally, when I bought the grill, I could have gotten the Rotisserie option, but thought I couldn't justify the extra $200 for the grill. After the fact, I regretted it, because Rotisserie grilling opens up a lot of options.

Happy rotating,