Rock Cornish Game Hen History

Servings: 1
Ingredients:

1    Information

I drew a blank on the subject until I remembered that I’d always
heard of them referred to as Rock Cornish Game Hens rather than just
Cornish Game Hens. That’s when I finally hit pay dirt.

The following is from a book by the brothers Lobel all about meat and
poultry.

These delectable little birds were actually ‘invented’. It took a
printer of exceptional engravings with a taste for fine art and fine
food to dream up the idea. Jacques Makowsky and his wife, Therese,
came to America via Russia and France. He practiced his art in New
York City for eight years and then retired to a farm in Pomfret
County, Connecticut. The wild beauty of his surroundings plus his
idleness caused him to call his farm Idle Wild. He decided to
become a poultry farmer, but only of gourmet birds. He first raised
Guineas, but later he and his wife, after much experimenting, came up
with a crossbreed of Cornish game cocks and Plymouth Rock hens. The
result was a plump little bird with all-white meat.

The first Rock Cornish game hen made its debut in 1950. Now they
sell in the millions and are shipped all over the country to gourmet
restaurants and fine butcher shops. Aside from the succulence of its
white meat, it has a distinct gamy flavor. This is because the birds
are given a high protein diet that includes such native Connecticut
produce as cranberries, acorns, and other nuts. It is sometimes
compared in appearance and taste with the less available quail and
squab.

The usual weight is 1 pound, which is ample for an individual
serving. In fact, half a bird is adequate for home parties if the
rest of the menu is abundant.

From ‘Meat’ by the Lobel Brothers, edited by Alice Richardson.
Hawthorne Books Inc., New York, 1971.

Posted by Stephen Ceideburg; January 31 1991.