Dr. Pepper Glazed Cornish Hen

Last weekend, my wife took me up on my challenge for her to adapt a brownie recipe to include Dr. Pepper. While I do most of the cooking, she does most of the baking that happens in our house. In addition to the brownie itself, she prepared a Dr. Pepper frosting to top the treat. They were delicious, and they inspired me to challenge myself to include Dr. Pepper in a main course in some way. The result; Dr. Pepper Glazed Cornish Hen.


Cornish hens are rather fun to cook. They don't take terribly long in the oven, given the smaller size, and they work quite well when cooking for just two people. I made a pair of them, so we do have one leftover for another meal. These birds seemed like a good vehicle for the experiment, as they are not especially bold on their own in terms of flavor.


I started out by reducing the Dr. Pepper a fair bit. The flavor darkened up some, but still clearly tasted like Dr. Pepper. I added a 6-ounce can of tomato paste to the reduced Dr. Pepper, and crushed in some rosemary, as well as a small bit of salt. A bit more reduction, and I was ready for the next step in the process. Well, mostly ready...


One challenge I've faced lately in my kitchen has been that many of my utensils simply cannot be found when I need them. Our daughter loves to pretend-cook, and it delights me to no end to watch her concoct her batches of "strawberry soup, blueberry soup, pancakes, eggs, and spaghetti and meatballs." In fact, I may have to try to make some kind of strawberry or blueberry soup at some point, just to see what her imaginary food would actually taste like. That said, I really missed having my silicone brush tonight. It is surely sitting in a bowl somewhere with a small heap of her toys, and it is Friday after all; there's no telling where it could have gone during this past week. I had to resort to slowly pouring the glaze over the birds.


I used about half of the glaze in this simple form and popped the hens into the oven. I also baked some potatoes while I was at it; a quick starch, and a nice plain side so the poultry could remain center-stage. Shortly before serving dinner, I returned to the remaining glaze, and, well, doctored it up. The tomato paste had managed to dilute much of the sweetness in the Dr. Pepper, so I decided to bring some of the soda flavor back to the forefront. I added some honey, a small bit of salt and pepper, a generous dash of hot sauce (Louisiana-style, for what it's worth), and some apple cider vinegar. Essentially, it became a Dr. Pepper barbecue/dipping sauce, and we did some generous dipping, I can assure you.


Again, in the interest of letting the hen truly stand as a main course, I kept the veggie simple, and opted for some green beans. In all, cook and prep time brought this meal to the table in just over an hour and a half. It made for a satisfying end of the work week and kickoff to the weekend (no pun intended; I just remembered the Super Bowl is coming up on Sunday - GO GIANTS).


The verdict


I most definitely plan to make something like this again, and while I enjoyed the Cornish hen angle, I think the Dr. Pepper flavor is better suited to a nice pork loin. Next time, I'm going that route. The Dr. Pepper flavor was clearly present, but subtle. It probably would have been lost without the addition of the salt and honey. Who knows what they put into that tasty soda; all I know is that it makes a nice base for a different take on a barbecue sauce. I wanted to just start drinking the sauce right out of the serving dish.


I also don't know that I would pair up any particular wine with this dish. Sure, there are plenty that would work, but I'm inclined to consider serving this with either a fine bourbon (on the rocks, please), or some kind of Dr. Pepper-based cocktail. If anyone has some good suggestions for mixed drinks involving Dr. Pepper, please share them.


I was pleased with my choices for rather plain veg and starch. I think I might try some snow pea pods sauteed in olive oil with garlic when I make this with pork. Maybe. But the simple baked potato was definitely a keeper. Perhaps a smattering of goat cheese with diced dried cherries or cranberries over the potato when I make the pork will be in order. We'll see.


We are looking forward to the repeat of this meal tomorrow, and I'm declaring this one a success, even though I do plan to take the idea a different direction in the future. I'm also already thinking about some other non-traditional ingredients as possible launch points. If you care to make a suggestion, I'll gladly accept the challenge, assuming it is reasonable. Part of the joy of cooking is seeing if what you imagine a dish will taste like in any way resembles the end result. This one did.

Duck

I haven't cooked duck in a while. Entirely too long, in fact. As the holidays faded, the sales began, and our local grocery store cut the price on duck pretty sharply on Christmas Eve, so I picked one up and tossed it in the freezer. It was ridiculously cheap, really. 


My past efforts cooking duck have been mixed, and prior to this evening, I'd never had crispy-skin nirvana. I combed the internet, and found a few entries from other folks that suggested a nice low and slow start followed by a blast at the end (I'd done this before) with a generous scoring of the skin (also tried before). I was willing to sacrifice juicy meat for crispy skin this time around, but was pleasantly surprised to have reasonably moist meat with the crispy skin. But the real bonus was the glaze. I did an adaptation that ended up using honey, soy sauce, liquid smoke (yes, I'm a fanatical user of the stuff), hot sauce, and a hint of cinnamon and garlic salt. 


The duck cooked for about 4 hours, with frequent flipping to keep the fat draining. I have saved that fat, and am looking forward to making a special potato dish with it in the near future. Once it was nearly done, the final 15 minutes saw the heat upped (first to 425 to get a golden and crispy skin, and then a flash for about 5 minutes under the broiler with the reduced glaze generously applied). 


I served this with a wild/brown rice mix sauteed with garlic, olive oil, a hint of salt/pepper, and a fair helping of peas. I should note that I put in over 6 cloves of garlic, and I note this because a friend of mine noted on Facebook recently that she felt this was an excessive quantity of garlic. I did it to prove a point, I suppose, but mostly because the rice needed that much to taste good, plain and simple! 


My wife brought home a bottle of NoCo Pinot Noir (thanks to the folks at In Fine Spirits for the recommendation). Nice. Simple. Dinner.


The Verdict


My wife's quote was, I believe, "I have afterglow from this dinner." I agree. The wine was the perfect pairing. The rice was the right texture and great complement for the duck. And the duck - wow. I wish I had another on hand. There is enough around for dinner tomorrow, probably not as good, but who cares! In the dead of winter, a bit of a tad-gamier taste is just the thing to break up the monotony.