QUESTION: Can you please explain what a Cornish game hen is and provide some recipes?ANSWER: Perfect question — short and sweet ... too bad my answers aren't.See,

it's like this: A long time ago, a type of very tasty wild bird lived in Cornwall, England. The problem was that only the females had the great taste, and they were really hard to find, so even the best hunters considered them difficult game.These birds came to be known as Cornish (Cornwall) game (provided by hunters) hens (only the females). That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.Come on, you have to admit that explanation sounds a lot more interesting than the truth. Cornish game hens are really just young chickens, male or female, that are raised in chicken coops and never hunted.The name (Cornish game hen, Rock Cornish game hen, Cornish Rock game hen, or plain game hen) is a product of crossbreeding Cornish domestic chickens with Rock hens.Now for the positive PR side of Cornish game hens: They were bred with several great ideas in mind. First, these chickens are mostly white meat (which most people prefer) and, as a result, they cook more evenly than standard white/dark chickens.Secondly, because they are smaller, they take less time to cook, usually less than an hour. Your favorite chicken recipe will work just as well with these little birds.Another bonus is that one game hen is the perfect serving for one person.The story behind the birds has one interesting twist. Cornish game hens were first bred in 1950 by Connecticut farmers Jacques and Alphonsine Makowsky as emergency replacements when their flock of Guinea hens was lost in a fire.When their new breed became more popular than Guinea hens, they realized their makeshift marketing strategy had turned into a profitable new business. I'm guessing that the birds' rather exotic name also had something to do with their success.