Cocoa Chili Game Hen
By: Ken & Patti Fisher
Published: Monday, August 29, 2011 - 3:52pm

Ingredients




Game hens, 1 for each person
Cocoa Chili Blend from McCormick’s Gourmet Collection
Worcestershire sauce

Preparation

1 I have these little stands that I can put the birds on but, they are not necessary. You can lay them down or if you have a grill with a rotisserie they are always good on that. We use the Royall Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker so the racks are great for us. 2 I like to drizzle a little Worcestershire sauce on the birds so I can make a paste with the rub. I will admit that a few of the folks that I showed this rub to thought it was way too hot. So, apply the amount of your rub to fit the folks you’re feeding. It is not any fun if it is too hot for folks to eat. I like it zingy and to me this has a zing rating of almost 1 on a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being hot. It’s a 7 ½ for Patti. 3 About our Recipes 4 We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills, including Royall Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker, Traeger, Char Griller side box smoker, Charmglow, Char-Broil, The Big Easy, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles are healthy and low fat and will fit pellet heads, gas, natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good BBQ. 5 The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot, but, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. But sometimes it does rain. 6 Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste. 7 Take it and run with it…. 8 Live your Passion, 9 Ken & Patti 10 http://datenightdoins.com 11 For gas and charcoal conversions go to our web site...

About

My Sailor friend Tony came down for a visit and that always means BBQ, beer and some “Sailor Man Tall Tales”. We all know how those sailors are… I wanted to do something a little different on the grill this time just to keep him happily wondering. Best buddies do that. Patti usually stays over at a friend’s house when we get together, but she was feeling brave and she loves these little chicks.
I have been playing around with cocoa and chipotle chili for some time now and have found a cocoa chili blend from McCormick’s Gourmet Collection that works. If you have seen many of our recipes you know that I am just a little fond of chipotle chili. McCormick uses Chipotle in this blend. Good Stuff.
Patti got us some nice game hens and I did a good cocoa rub on them. Then, onto the Royall Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker. I smoked these girls at 180 for an hour with pecan wood pellets. 
Then, I put a little heat under them for 30 minutes. They came off the grill tender and juicy with the meat just at the point where the bird just pulled apart. No knife needed tonight; just the way I like my birds. 
But, the kickin’ part was the flavor. They were rockin’ with the full sweet flavor of the cocoa then rollin’ with the low heat of the chipotle chili. Man, were they good, no leftovers tonight, Patti hated that part.