Grilling Quail

[BreezyCooking]

I've only had quail once or twice - & that was in restaurants. Have never cooked it myself. And while I'm not normally a big-time impulse buyer, our local WalMart had frozen vacuum packages of farm-raised, no-hormones, no antibiotics, butterflied & preseasoned quail "ready for the grill". Four to a package for $5 & change. It was too tempting to pass up - lol!!

Did a search both on this forum & on the internet & while I did find some interesting recipes for roasting quail indoors, nothing about outdoor grilling that was intriguing.

I'd like to do these on the grill this weekend, & while I can whip my way around a chicken 20 times over - lol - was just wondering if anyone has any tips or ideas for these little birds. (The "preseasoning" mentioned on the package doesn't seem to be more than salt, pepper, & spices, & from the look of the meat, I doubt there's a lot of it.)

 

[AllenOK]

It's been years since I tried grilling quail. Since they're so small, I'd recommend using a cooler fire than you're normally used to, so that it gives you a bigger "window" of time to pull them off, before they burn. I'm thinking 5 minutes per side, if that.

 

[auntdot]

Have never grilled them, sorry. I love them deep fried. Or I debone them, leaving just the wing and leg bones intact, and stuff them with flavored wild rice and Mandarin orange slices. Then they go in the oven.

That is all I can offer.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Yes - I agree with the cooler fire. That's the one thing I'm nervous about - incinerating the poor little things, especially since they're already butterflied flat. I'm thinking that I'll treat them sort of like I would flattened boneless skinless chicken breasts & will test one for doneness often. I'll be doing them tomorrow & will just consider it an experiment. Heck, 4 to a package for $5 & change - what do I have to lose?

 

[ironchef]

Quail is delicious. I like to serve quail either as an app or in an entree type salad. To me, it doesn't really go well with a heavy starch or sauce. Two ways that I like to serve it would be with bitter greens (think rocket) with a citrus-type vinaigrette, or with blanched vegetables (new/yukon potatoes, baby carrots, haricot verts, tomato, etc.) with a pommery mustard or whole grain mustard vinaigrette.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Now that sounds good. I do have tiny baby red-skinned potatoes, some baby carrots, heirloom tomatoes, & - while not haricot verts - some decent green beans. Wonder if I could do some sort of roasted vegetable packet at the same time I'm grilling the quail.