Instructions

1. Place the Cornish hen on a cutting board with the breast up and the tail pointing toward you.

2. Take a piece of butcher's string about 2 feet in length and hold the middle section of the string under the ends of the legs where the bone is showing. You will have a very long tail of string on both ends.

3. Wrap the string up and around the two chicken legs at the notch between the end of the bone and where the meatier portion begins.

4. Cross the strings, as if tying a shoe and pull tightly.

5. Bring the ends of the strings back across the hen, so that they cross just below the breast and wrap the string around the base of the wings.

6. Pull the string up tightly under both wings and tie the string over the breast of the hen. A knot or a bow works well.