How to Halve a Game Hen

A game hen can be halved prior to cooking.

Cutting a game hen in half helps it to cook through evenly and provides a fuss-free entrée presentation. Some poultry farmers mate game hens with the offspring of Cornish chickens to produce Cornish game hens. A game hen, a five or six week old chicken, generally weighs less than two pounds prior to cooking. When you cut a whole game hen in half you produce two servings of game hen; ½ hen per serving. Does this Spark an idea?

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Poultry shears

Instructions

- 1
  
  Blot the game hen dry with a paper towel. The blades of poultry shears tend to slip on wet chicken skin.
- 2
  
  Lay the game hen breast side down on a cutting board. Begin cutting at the rear of the bird and continue to cut along either the left or right side of the back bone. Continue to cut all the way to the front of the hen.
- 3
  
  Locate the wishbone, at the front of the hen, and position your shears at the "V" portion of the bone. Snip through the bone and cut through the neck skin.
- 4
  
  Separate the two halves of the hen with your hands and set them aside.