Find Recipes

You can flatten game hens by pressing straight down on the breast bone. By doing this to the game hen you will expose more of the meat to the heat allowing it to cook more evenly.

This isn't an easy recipe, but is very good, and most impressive. In other words, ideal for a special occasion. If need be you could also use guinea hen or even chicken.

A salmì is a wine-based marinade with various herbs for game that's common throughout much of North and Italy (the name derives from the French salmis), and though its most common use is in the preparation of hare, it will also work quite well with feathered game, in this case pheasant, though one could also use guinea hen or chicken if need be. This recipe is Piemontese.

Pheasant is both tasty and elegant, and lends itself to many elegant preparations. This, with creamy, delicate mascarpone cheese, is from Lombardia; though the recipe calls for pheasant, it will also work with guinea hen, and one could use free range chicken too.

Pigeons Florentine Style, or Piccioni alla Fiorentina: Whenever I've encountered these they've been simply piccioni allo spiedo, spit-roasted pigeons. Perhaps because I live in Tuscany. In any case, the technique will work with any small birds, and is delicious.

This recipe calls for the hens to be cut in half to ensure fast cooking. You can also rotisserie them, but make sure to keep them whole.

Polenta e Osei calls for game birds, which vary from place to place and are in any case not so easy to find as they once were. This Lombard recipe is a variation for the days when the hunters come up short.

Though this stewed rabbit recipe calls for polenta, it will work equally well with pappardelle or other strip-style pastas, for example broad tagliatelle.

Quail are popular game birds in Greek cooking, and this delightful recipe combines favorite tastes of tomatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, and baby okra.

This recipe is typical of Romagna, and will also work with other kinds of birds, for example cornish game hens (or even small ducks), if you prefer. It's drawn from The Art of Eating Well (Random House, 1996), my translation of Pellegrino Artusi's La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene, the first truly successful Italian cookbook.