Thawed out some quail I had, plucked and gutted whole birds with legs attached. Thinking of doing something different than the old standby of frying them, or bacon wrapped breasts. How do you guys cook your whole quail? Any good recipes to share for my Super Bowl quail?
I posted here to get more traction than on recipe forum, but I can move of this is a distraction.

Click onto the link that Walter posted near the bottom of this page.

Thanks bill. Thinking I may fry up the legs, and grill the breasts whole. What's your trick to removing the breastbone?

I tried to pan fry quail for several years. The breast never came out right because they have three sides, and the bones prohibited the flour from properly coating. A friend and I had an 840 quail year, so I had more than I knew what to do with them. I taught myself to butterfly the quail. I've show this to lots of people since, and it's the only way they cook their quail anymore.

The first and most important step is to cut off the ball and socket joints like this;




Next you run your scissors under the rib cage on each side.



Then you clip off the sternum.




Pull the bones over the front of the quail breast, and it's a done deal.




You have a butterflied quail breast which will pan fry in less than 3 minutes on each side. Use your pan drippings for cream gravy. You don't have to use an egg wash if you bread them 30 minutes or so before you fry them. The breading will get gummy, and they'll come out crisp.

I've deep fried them for a field trial crowd, but I serve those with French fries and store bought breaded okra.

This will also work.

I'm stuffed. I ate alone. I kept talking to myself. I said, "self, this is really good." I gave out this recipe for use with quail. It came up in a conversation with my best quail hunting friends. I got a hankering.

I simply refuse to pound out chicken breast anymore. I trim them like this and re freeze them.



I take them out of the freezer for a couple of hours and split them like this.



I also don't use any egg washes anymore. I bread them ahead of time. They will drop a little flour in the butter but that's fine. I end up with this dish.

Put in whole or debone and add to a pot of rice, season, and cook till rice and quail are done. Use chicken stock to cook in. Add more stock to make a soup, or just enough cook without sticking or burning.

I make honey glazed grilled quail. Season quail with Weber Smoky Mesquite seasoning, then I grill on my Traeger at 275-300 degrees. when I turn then over, I baste with a mix of honey, teriyaki sauce, lemon zest, and a touch of soy sauce.

I made gumbo with em the other day. Was good for something different.

Chicken fried is hard to beat but at the same time it's very ordinary.

Here is how I cooked them up tonight:

Stuffed quail with chopped mushrooms and Monterey Jack cheese, wrapped with strip of bacon and a sprinkling of Lemmon pepper:



Cooked on post oak, which was a little too hot:



But they came out OK:





Wife said I was great, and that is all that matters.

If you pluck them whole, try stuffing a little beef fat and onion in the cavity, wrap in foil and cook on the grill. Open the foil just before done. Perfection.

that looks outstanding

Dang good looking quail eats