Cooking with Chef Jo: Christmas Eve-Roasted Stuffed Quail

At my old homestead, we used to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. My children were all grown up with families and extended families of their own so Christmas Eve seemed the best night to do this on. This freed up their Christmas morning to enjoy their individual families, afternoon with Poppa Jack (my dad with a total of 4 generations in attendance), and the evening with their in-laws. It worked well for a decade or two before my children permanently moved to others coasts and countries.

I knew my father would serve prime rib (standing rib roasts), turkey, and a ham. Yes, we normally had 75 family and friends (now the number is close to 100) in attendance. In my own household, my children, their spouses and their children numbered just 20 head of folks ages 1-50ish. I cooked for both events at my house and my father's. It would have been impossible without a full restaurant kitchen and equipment otherwise. Still, we managed each year.

So as you can imagine, it was difficult to find something different to prepare on Christmas Eve dinner at my home. One year, I did whole groupers stuffed with seafood, hushpuppies, German coleslaw (basically sauerkraut was used instead of fresh cabbage), German potato salad, and a selection of cheesecakes and pies. Two members of my family do not eat seafood so they has to settle for grilled T-bone steaks. After that I settled on stuffed quail or Cornish game hens.

On this homestead, we are lucky enough to have our own quail to eat. For roasting whole quail, I take the time while butchering to pluck the birds leaving the skin intact. Normally when I spatchcock quail, I remove the skin with the feathers rather than plucking the feathers. I'll butcher the birds both ways. Plucking the feathers takes longer and the entrails are removal is more tedious with such a small bird.

My wild rice stuffing recipe can be found here. Quail are small birds and won't hold much stuffing (about 2 TBS at most) so place remainder of the wild rice stuffing in an heavily buttered, oven safe dish as a bed for the quail for roasting. It all begins the day before or today actually.

 Roasted and Stuffed Quail

Serves 2-4, It depends how big your appetite is.

What you'll need

1 gallon of water

1/2 cup kosher salt, or any non-iodonize salt you prefer

1/2 cup orange juice

6 cloves garlic, smashed

6 peppercorns

2 bay leaves, large

6 sage leaves, either fresh or dried

4 whole. skin on quails

4 TBS or 1/2 stick of melted butter 

2 tsp rubbed sage

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp ground rosemary

1/2 tsp thyme

                                                            1/2 tsp ground black pepper

                                                            1/2 tsp salt

                                                           4 TBS oil

Putting it all together

• 8-10 hours before service, place first seven ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil.
• Boil for 5 minutes stirring frequently until the salt dissolves.
• Remove from heat, cover, and let liquid cool to room temperature. This will take an hour or two.
• Place quail in the brine liquid.
• Place a plate on top of the birds to keep them under the brine.
• Refrigerate for 6 hours.
• Prepare rice stuffing.
• Mix ground herbs and spices in the melted butter and set aside to let them rehydrate a bit. 
• When the stuffing is cooked set aside until you can handle the rice without burning yourself.
• Remove quail from brine and rinse the birds inside and out.
• Let drain at least 20 minutes.
• Brush quail with butter and herb mixture inside and out.
• Stuff the birds.
• In a large cast iron skillet, place oil and heat until hot.
• Place quail breast side down first, and then brown on all sides.
• Remove quail from the pan.
• Place remaining rice stuffing in the hot skillet.
• Place quail on top of the stuffing.
• Cover loosely with foil.
• Place in 400 degree oven.
• Bake 20 minutes.
• Baste birds with remaining butter mixture.
• Return skillet to the oven and bake uncovered for additional 10 minutes. A meat thermometer inserted into the breast should read 165 degrees for well done quail. The stuffing in the skillet should be crisp on the outside and moist in the middle or under the quail.
• Transfer stuffing and quail to a serving plate.

Serve with a side of broiled asparagus wrapped in bacon that has been dusted with Parmesan cheese after broiling, corn niblet soufflé, and some homemade yeast rolls for a high end, fancy dinner. You could just serve it with any vegetable for a Sunday night dinner. Y'all enjoy!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo