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Cornish Game Hens Bourguignonne

Cornish game hens braised in red wine with bacon, vegetables, mushrooms and pearl onions in the Burgundian style.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Cornish Game Hens Bourguignonne

Oven350°F
Time1 hour, then 45 to 60 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the birds

  1. Wash, dry, salt and pepper hens and truss.

  2. Heat a large heavy pan, add diced bacon, and cook until crisp.

  3. Remove bacon, add garlic and hens, and brown thoroughly.

  4. Remove garlic and hens and keep hens warm.

Braise

  1. Add sliced vegetables and garni bouquet.

  2. Place hens on top of vegetables.

  3. Half cover with stock and then add wine to almost cover.

  4. Bring to a boil and place in the oven.

  5. Bake at 350°F for an hour.

  6. While the casserole is in the oven, peel white onions and blanch in hot water (or use canned ones).

  7. Sauté mushrooms.

Make the sauce

  1. When birds are tender, remove from pan and, if desired, flame with cognac.

  2. Strain juices into saucepan.

  3. Purée vegetables and add to juices.

  4. Over high heat, reduce to 1/2 the original volume.

  5. Thicken sauce with a mixture of flour and butter if needed.

  6. Check and correct seasoning.

  7. Add mushrooms and onions.

  8. Pour sauce over birds, cover and heat at least 15 minutes or serve birds and sauce separately.

  9. Can stop here and keep all overnight in the refrigerator.

Finish and serve

  1. The next day, paint inside and outside of the birds with the sauce.

  2. Bake at 350°F for 45 to 60 minutes.

  3. There will be no need to thicken sauce.

  4. Add mushrooms and onions 15 minutes prior to the end of cooking.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

442Calories
39 gProtein
19 gFat
24 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 15 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Cognacnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Mushroom + chickentop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  3. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Celery + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Hens (in the method)
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender through slow braising in liquid.
Bacon
Renders fat that browns the birds and adds savoury, smoky flavour to the base.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth, and its reduction gives the sauce body and flavour.
Chicken stock
Provides moisture and savoury body for the braising liquid and sauce.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and texture to the finished sauce.
Onions
Add sweetness and soft texture as they cook in the sauce.

The step that matters

Browning the birds thoroughly. Browning creates deep flavour through the Maillard reaction, and the pan drippings built here form the base of the sauce. Pale birds produce a weaker, less savoury result.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, mushroom, chicken, red wine, carrot, celery, butter):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, mushroom, chicken, red wine, carrot, celery, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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