These burnished little birds are quite fancy. And we like fancy. Scented exotically, if subtly, with soy, ginger, chile, and anise,  they are first poached and then finished off with a blast of dry heat to crisp up the skin. My version is inspired by the Ginger Duck in Amanda Hesser’s lovably twee Cooking for Mr. Latte, but gets nudged back towards its Chinese roots with some judicious additions to the poaching liquid.

Though somewhat time-consuming, most of the work is both dead easy and night-before do-ahead. A la minute, the birds demand only a little baste before a quick spell in a hot oven to rewarm and crisp them up.  This frees up time to fiddle with more complicated sides, but I generally forgo any Herculean efforts as the hens are quite elegantly at home atop a bed of gingery mashed sweet potatoes and a tangle of quickly-sauteed greens or snuggled up with some roasted potatoes and shredded parsnip and carrot.

Red Roast Cornish Game Hens
inspired by Amanda Hesser
Serves 4

4 1 1/4 lb cornish game hens, rinsed and dried
1/2 c Shaoxing wine, or sherry
1/2 c regular soy sauce
1/2 c dark soy sauce (“mushroom flavored”)
1 c rock sugar, or packed light brown sugar
2 dried chilies de arbol
3″ piece fresh ginger, sliced
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tbs black peppercorns
1 tbs 5-spice powder
2 tbs honey

Rinse and set aside the hens. In a stockpot large enough to hold them all snugly, combine remaining ingredients except the honey. Bring to a boil and add hens. Once liquid returns to a boil, reduce heat to maintain a slow simmer and cook the hens, stirring them gently about every 10 min, for  an hour and 10 min or so. Remove the hens from the pot and set in a roasting pan fitted with a rack. Refrigerate, uncovered, overnight to dry the skins. Strain and reserve the poaching liquid.

The next morning, lightly cover the hens with plastic wrap. Prior to serving, remove the hens from the refrigerator. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. In a small saucepan, reduce 1 c of the reserved liquid by half.  Stir in the honey and set aside. Lightly based the hens with the reduced liquid and put in the oven for about 2o minutes. Remove when hens are warmed through and the skin is crisped.

Notes & Variations
This recipe can be multiplied, you just have to cook the birds in shifts. (It seems wasteful to make two pots of the poaching liquid). A benefit of doing this is an improved stock that can be secreted away in little freezer bags to add to soups or, as Amanda suggests, cooking rice. It’s too strongly flavored to be used on its own, but when cut with regular chicken stock, it brings a lovely Chinese-y insouciance to soups–great with a few dumplings floating around and a sprinkling of chopped green onion.