Crock pot game hens

[keith9072]

I am thinking of trying to cook a game hen in a crock part for my first time and have a few questions.
Should the hen be thawed before I start?
Can I do other vegetables in the same pot without worrying about salmonella?
Do I need to brush it occassionally to keep it moist?
How long should I cook it?
Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[kadesma]

I am thinking of trying to cook a game hen in a crock part for my first time and have a few questions.
Should the hen be thawed before I start?
Can I do other vegetables in the same pot without worrying about salmonella?
Do I need to brush it occassionally to keep it moist?
How long should I cook it?
Thanks for any help you can give me.

i'd out the whole veggies and bird in the c/p and put it on low and add maybe 1/4 cup of cold stock. set you timer and cook for 5/6 hrs. Then I'd add my onion,garlic,salt and pepper adding the aeromatics sooner I find just kills the taste of them. so do this when you have 2 or 3 hours left.Hope this helps. I'd not bother with brushing with oil or butter till done. I doubt you have to worry about salmonella but if you are Maybe one of the other posters can help us.
kadesma

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Put it in thawed. All the veggies can go in, I like Kades idea of putting them in in stages so you don't muddle the flavors. With the lid on the CP you don't have to worry about basting it, it will stay moist. You also want to put at least a half to 1 cup of water in the CP at the start.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Well, I think that all the important facts are nicely covered. With regard to the nasty germs -- and salmonella is only one; campylobacter is another -- the golden rule is that germs increase rapidly in poultry between 40F to 140F. Your sc will surely kill them provided that the birds are defrosted prior to cooking The reason for this is that if you put a frozen bird in the cooker, during the time that it takes for the bird to get from 40F to 140F the bacteria will multiply exponentially. That is often mentioned but not explained. What it means is that if a strain of bacteria doubles every ten minutes, at the end of an hour it will have increased by 64 times (it doubles 6 times, so 2 to the 6th). The incubation time for the little bugs will increase even more if you let the bird defrost on the counter, so let it defrost in the fridge, where it won't get to 40F or on the defrost cycle in the microwave
Are you using the slow cooker so that it will be done when you get home from work? I totally agree that the aromatics that you put in with the bird will have lost their flavor and will also be pretty mushy by the time the birds are cooked, and aside from the time -- about an hour, I'd guess -- that it will take to cook a new batch in the sc. when you take the lid off, it will take about an extra half hour after you put it back on for the temperature to stabilize, so you may want to consider cooking the new set of veggies on the stove top, which will take about 20 minutes.
Cheers.