Grilled Marsh Hens w/ Wild Rice and Homegrown Collards
Legs on a game bird suck. Tough, full of tendons, too much work and not enough meat.
I'm a leg man, so I disagree. Well, to be more honest, I'm a equal opportunist when it comes birds; legs, breasts, *gizzards, I'll take it all -sometimes even the feet.
*If you haven't had the privilege of ordering fried gizzards from a small town, dive bar kitchen, after a a long day looking for birds, and a few pitchers of cheap beer, I would sincerely recommend it.
But the legs on a marsh hen are where it's at, which is not surprising considering they make up almost 60% of the bird's body.
Grilled Marsh Hens
A dozen marsh hens (breasts and legs separated)
-marinate in red wine, just enough to cover the birds
*it seemed that the longer the birds rested in the refrigerator, the more pronounced the marshy, salty flavor became. Which is good. It's not chicken.
Heat grill.
-A grill works in two ways: If you can't get it above 350 degrees, it's called an outdoor oven. If you want it to actually grill, and get a good sear, you'll need a higher temperature.
The hardest part about grilling is finding the hottest part of the grill. Place your bird parts on the hottest part to get your grill marks. If the grill is hot enough, it shouldn't take long. Then flip the legs or breasts over, and move to a less hot section of the grill, close the lid, and use the grill as an oven to cook the birds the rest of the way through.
Grill in batches
6-8 minutes per bird part.
