


March 05, 2010
Recipe: The Perfect Grilled Quail
By David DiBenedetto

I’m often asked about the perks of owning a gun dog. The answers are legion, but one of the best is that I hunt more, which means more wild-bird dinners. During the season, and long after, our menu ranges from dove to ducks, and most recently quail.
As I’ve said before, I’m no chef, but my wonderful wife is a maestro in the kitchen. So I turned these birds over to her. Jenny found a recipe in a new cookbook by Chris and Idie Hastings of the Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, Alabama. Chris, whom I’ve met briefly, is a bird hunter and a dog guy—the good chef prefers setters. He’s also one hell of a cook. For our meal, Jenny handled the prep and the sides (in this case, roasted winter veggies and couscous) and I manned the grill. Here’s how we did up the birds:
Ingredients:
6 6-ounce semi-boneless whole quail*
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small garlic clove, smashed and peeled
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh sage, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
kosher salt
black pepper
Clip and discard the last two segments of both wing tips on the quail. Rinse the quail under cold running water and pat dry. Place the quail in a large glass bowl with the olive oil, garlic, thyme, sage, and parsley. Toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hour or up to overnight.
Preheat the grill to medium-high heat (350-400 degrees) Remove quail from the refrigerator and marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Remove the quail from the marinade and season both sides with salt and pepper. Place quail on the grill and cook for 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until golden brown and cook through (like most small birds, you do NOT want to overcook). Remove the quail from the grill and set aside to keep warm until ready to serve.
* We cooked our birds bone-in, which Hastings says makes the meat even more flavorful. Add a minute or two to cook time. As you may have surmised, the dinner was excellent. In fact, I’ll take quail over any game bird.
As always, I’m curious how you cook your quail. Let’s hear the best you have.
Comments (17)
nicely done, looks delicious
I like any gamebird plucked and roasted whole. Sometimes I'll split a quail down the back and broil it. You can deep fry them whole, too, which is great but tricky to get them out of the oil before they overcook.
that is a very nice recipe. i call my recipe beer can quail. first i rub lemon juice over the quail, then season the quail, with a rub consisting of salt , pepper, tumeric, coriander, and spices of your choice. refrigerate for an hour or so. i use a stainless steel condiment cup, fill it with beer, stand the quail up over the little cup, on the grill. i prepare a marinade in a spray bottle, which consists of 1/3 redwine vinegar, 1/3 olive oil, and 1/3 apple juice. while the quail is cooking you spray it often with the mixture. while it is grilling i cover it with a stainless steel, clean, water bucket, like the ones my dogs drink water from. because it stands up on the grill, it cooks up nicely and evenly. we have cooked it right over a campfire as well. it is really good!
It made me hungry just reading about it. I would love to give it a try.
For my money, quail is the best eating bird in the world. Roasted, and fried whole are my favorite ways to enjoy them.
i always cook my quail bone-in—def enhances the flavor. thanks for the recipe! going in the file now.
Thet looks My-T-Good. I can smell it now. I cook quail, grouse,pheasants, and steelheads the same way. Chop up a large handful of green onions, sweet onions, tomato, garlic, mushrooms, and serrano peppers for each bird or fish. Sautee all in butter and salt until golden brown. Serve bird/fish covered with mostly sauteed veggies, cover potatoes with mostly butter that it cooked in. Very chill Loganberry wine. It always helps to have a few beers beforehand.
Oh, yes. Prior to cooking, split the birds or fillet the fish.
This reminds me during my Caribou and Moose hunts my friends would wonder why I carried my Ruger Mark II, dinner I replied, Grouse! Don’t need a shotgun, your within 7 to 10 feet an easy head shot. YEP! Fresh grouse cooked in tinfoil over a camp fire with onions and wrapped in bacon, YUM! YUM!
If I was gay I think I would ask you to marry me. Get in my belly!!!! That looks and sounds outstanding.
Damn! That looks good maybe i should start quail hunting.
KyleKortright NO JOKE!
I forget the exact recipe, but this is close. 1/4 cup of honey mixed with dijon mustard, spooned over the birds then sprinkled with chopped pecans. In the oven at 350 for about 30 mins.
Sure, tempt me with that scrumptious looking quail dinner on a Friday during Lent. Make me suffer. At least Cermele presented some tasty looking smoked fish. But, ah the temptation.
We hunted bobwhite at every opportunity in Southern Ohio. Haven't even seen a live one since moving to Michigan. The only time I get it nowadays is at a local restaurant, served in an order called The Roadkill Grille. Tasting it always spurs memories. Now I just suffer through meals of woodcock and grouse.
Looks great!I dont have any for quail but do for pheasant and ruffed grouse.The bobwhites here in NY are stocked by the state in long island a long drive for birds that will fly low not far or hard or if at all.The pheasant recipe that will work on many birds is a rosemary onion stuffed pheasant.Two pheasant cleaned body cavity washed.Two large onions chopped and stuffed into the bird with a tablespoon of margerine or butter with a little salt and pepper.Rub the outside with olive oil and add rosemary on top of breasts.Bake at 350f for 50 to 1 and 1 half hour depending on size of bird and amount of stuffing.This works well with grouse and will with quail.You can even grill them at same temp but remember to adjust cooking times to size of bird.This was a recipe that I got back in 2001.Another that works well on many birds is pheasant parmesan.4 boneless pheasant breasts, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
seasoned bread crumbs
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
8 slices mozzarella cheese, or more
1 jar (16 oz) spaghetti sauce
Parmesan cheese
Preparation:
Whisk together the egg and milk. Dip the pheasant breasts in milk and egg mixture and then in bread crumbs. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the pheasant in the hot oil on both sides until golden, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Set pheasant in a baking dish.
Slice 8 pieces of mozzarella cheese and put two on each breast. Pour 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce over all. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and a little more mozzarella and bake at 350° for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until bubbly. Serve with spaghetti, garlic bread and a nice green salad.I also cube the rest of the bird brown and bake in the sauce at times cook favorite pasta
dont rinse add sauce with cubed pheasant to unrinced hot
pasta,separate into serving portions top with pheasant
parmesan and more sauce.These two and many more I have
will work on many species of wild game.Always looking for
more thanks Dave.
Love to try the quail hunting but want to make sure its worth the drive to the hunt maybe a combo of quail then on the way home pheasant,ruffed grouse,and woodcock.What a day that would be.Time to clean the loft and train.
That sounds mighty tasty, kelmitch. Will have to try it. -d
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that is a very nice recipe. i call my recipe beer can quail. first i rub lemon juice over the quail, then season the quail, with a rub consisting of salt , pepper, tumeric, coriander, and spices of your choice. refrigerate for an hour or so. i use a stainless steel condiment cup, fill it with beer, stand the quail up over the little cup, on the grill. i prepare a marinade in a spray bottle, which consists of 1/3 redwine vinegar, 1/3 olive oil, and 1/3 apple juice. while the quail is cooking you spray it often with the mixture. while it is grilling i cover it with a stainless steel, clean, water bucket, like the ones my dogs drink water from. because it stands up on the grill, it cooks up nicely and evenly. we have cooked it right over a campfire as well. it is really good!
I like any gamebird plucked and roasted whole. Sometimes I'll split a quail down the back and broil it. You can deep fry them whole, too, which is great but tricky to get them out of the oil before they overcook.
It made me hungry just reading about it. I would love to give it a try.
Damn! That looks good maybe i should start quail hunting.
I forget the exact recipe, but this is close. 1/4 cup of honey mixed with dijon mustard, spooned over the birds then sprinkled with chopped pecans. In the oven at 350 for about 30 mins.
nicely done, looks delicious
For my money, quail is the best eating bird in the world. Roasted, and fried whole are my favorite ways to enjoy them.
i always cook my quail bone-in—def enhances the flavor. thanks for the recipe! going in the file now.
Thet looks My-T-Good. I can smell it now. I cook quail, grouse,pheasants, and steelheads the same way. Chop up a large handful of green onions, sweet onions, tomato, garlic, mushrooms, and serrano peppers for each bird or fish. Sautee all in butter and salt until golden brown. Serve bird/fish covered with mostly sauteed veggies, cover potatoes with mostly butter that it cooked in. Very chill Loganberry wine. It always helps to have a few beers beforehand.
Oh, yes. Prior to cooking, split the birds or fillet the fish.
If I was gay I think I would ask you to marry me. Get in my belly!!!! That looks and sounds outstanding.
Sure, tempt me with that scrumptious looking quail dinner on a Friday during Lent. Make me suffer. At least Cermele presented some tasty looking smoked fish. But, ah the temptation.
We hunted bobwhite at every opportunity in Southern Ohio. Haven't even seen a live one since moving to Michigan. The only time I get it nowadays is at a local restaurant, served in an order called The Roadkill Grille. Tasting it always spurs memories. Now I just suffer through meals of woodcock and grouse.
Looks great!I dont have any for quail but do for pheasant and ruffed grouse.The bobwhites here in NY are stocked by the state in long island a long drive for birds that will fly low not far or hard or if at all.The pheasant recipe that will work on many birds is a rosemary onion stuffed pheasant.Two pheasant cleaned body cavity washed.Two large onions chopped and stuffed into the bird with a tablespoon of margerine or butter with a little salt and pepper.Rub the outside with olive oil and add rosemary on top of breasts.Bake at 350f for 50 to 1 and 1 half hour depending on size of bird and amount of stuffing.This works well with grouse and will with quail.You can even grill them at same temp but remember to adjust cooking times to size of bird.This was a recipe that I got back in 2001.Another that works well on many birds is pheasant parmesan.4 boneless pheasant breasts, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
seasoned bread crumbs
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
8 slices mozzarella cheese, or more
1 jar (16 oz) spaghetti sauce
Parmesan cheese
Preparation:
Whisk together the egg and milk. Dip the pheasant breasts in milk and egg mixture and then in bread crumbs. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the pheasant in the hot oil on both sides until golden, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Set pheasant in a baking dish.
Slice 8 pieces of mozzarella cheese and put two on each breast. Pour 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce over all. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and a little more mozzarella and bake at 350° for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until bubbly. Serve with spaghetti, garlic bread and a nice green salad.I also cube the rest of the bird brown and bake in the sauce at times cook favorite pasta
dont rinse add sauce with cubed pheasant to unrinced hot
pasta,separate into serving portions top with pheasant
parmesan and more sauce.These two and many more I have
will work on many species of wild game.Always looking for
more thanks Dave.
Love to try the quail hunting but want to make sure its worth the drive to the hunt maybe a combo of quail then on the way home pheasant,ruffed grouse,and woodcock.What a day that would be.Time to clean the loft and train.
This reminds me during my Caribou and Moose hunts my friends would wonder why I carried my Ruger Mark II, dinner I replied, Grouse! Don’t need a shotgun, your within 7 to 10 feet an easy head shot. YEP! Fresh grouse cooked in tinfoil over a camp fire with onions and wrapped in bacon, YUM! YUM!
KyleKortright NO JOKE!
That sounds mighty tasty, kelmitch. Will have to try it. -d
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