Thai Grilled Chicken

Note: Prepare ahead—this recipe takes 5 hours of marinating time.

Let me start by saying you are going to love this dish. After only minutes of cooking my wife was salivating over the thought of these Cornish hens (I was too).

Start by preparing your Cornish hens. With your kitchen scissors, remove the backbone from the Cornish hen, and discard it or freeze it to be used in making a stock. To do this place it breast side down on your cutting board, take your scissors and cut alongside the backbone, on both sides, and remove it. With your hands, apply a bit of pressure and split the chicken to flatten it a bit.

Add all of the other ingredients into a small mixing bowl, and mix well to form a loose paste.

Now get some kitchen rubber gloves on if you have them, otherwise, don’t worry about it. Start rubbing that paste all over the Cornish hens. Make sure you get in and under the skin. Place the hens in a Ziplock bag, seal the bag, place it in the refrigerator, and let them marinate for at least five hours.

Before grilling, remove the hens from the refrigerator and let them sit on the counter for at least 30 minutes to take any of the chill off.

Put your charcoal into your grill. Clean and lightly oil the grill grate, and preheat the grill with the coals.

Once grill is hot add the hens, skin side up, and let them cook, uncovered for about 10 minutes. Then cover the grill and let them cook another 15 minutes. Then turn the hens over. Cook again, uncovered for another 10 minutes. If the coals begin to fire up, simply cover the grill, and then continue managing the heat.

Your goal is to get a nice and crispy skin, without burning it, as well as maintain a juicy hen. You will be shooting for about 170 F on a meat thermometer. Once they are fully cooked, remove them from the grill, put them onto a platter and let them rest for about 10 minutes. This will allow those hens to trap in all of that moisture, and be perfect at serving. Then carve and serve!