Smoked Cornish Hens "Hot Wing Style"
Cornish hens seasoned with barbecue rub, optionally brined and injected, then smoked and basted with barbecue hot wing sauce.
Servings 6 servings (estimated)
Ingredients
Cornish Hens
- 4–6 Cornish hens about 1 lb each
- Jeff's original rub as needed
Barbecue Hot Wing Sauce: One Batch
- ½ cup Jeff's barbecue sauce if making the formula, omit minced garlic and use fine ground black pepper at half the coarse-pepper amount for easier injection
- ½ cup Frank's Original Hot Sauce
- 1 stick butter 1/4 lb; melted
Optional Basic Brine
- 1 gallon water
- 1 cup kosher salt
- ¾ cup brown sugar white sugar also works
Instructions
- Thaw hens in the refrigerator before preparing them.
- For optional brining, dissolve salt and sugar in water. Submerge hens in a covered food-safe container or zip-top bag placed in a bowl, and refrigerate for 2–3 hours.
- Mix barbecue sauce, hot sauce and melted butter to make the wing sauce. Keep warm enough to flow through the injector; make additional batches as needed for injecting and basting.
- If injecting, the article recommends about 1 oz sauce into each leg and 2 oz into each breast. Insert the needle at an angle and distribute the sauce in several directions.
- Coat the outside lightly with wing sauce, then season the top, bottom, sides and under the skin where possible with rub. Refrigerate if the smoker is not ready.
- Prepare the smoker for 225°F. Fill the water pan if the smoker uses one, and place the hens breast side down on the grate.
- Smoke about 2 hours, until the thickest part of the breast reaches 165°F. After about 1 hour, brush lightly with wing sauce; repeat about 20 minutes later if desired.
- Cover loosely with foil and rest about 10 minutes before serving. Serve with warm sauce reserved separately for dipping.
Notes
Brining and injecting are optional; either or both may be used. The sauce ingredient group is one batch, not necessarily enough to inject all 4–6 hens at the amounts described and still baste and serve; multiply the sauce ingredients as needed. The original article's preparation times are not specified. Serving estimate assumes one hen per person; the stated 4–6 hens provide about 4–6 servings.