Quail wrapped in Bacon with Maple Syrup Glaze

Brad at lake Hartwell - Brad Hobbs

Ingredients

Quail - At least 2 per person I cook birds with legs but no wings, don't know that it matters much how they are dressed out Maple Syrup - 3 Tablespoons per pair of quail Bacon - 1 strip per bird Toothpicks Salt and Pepper

Instructions

- Wash birds - pat dry - Add salt and pepper - Optional: Pull the legs straight and pin the legs together with a toothpick - keeps them from sticking through the grill - Wrap a strip of bacon around the body of each bird and pin with two toothpicks. I lay the bacon out set the bird in the middle of the strip breast down and wrap in a spiral. Then pin the bacon with a toothpick up front and one toward the back. - Put the birds in a shallow dish and drizzle with syrup. (I suppose you could put some syrup on before the bacon, or put syrup on the bacon before covering the birds.) - Keep the disk with syrup to drizzle on the birds as they cook. Get your egg to a stable 375. Drop in a chunk or two of apple wood, hickory, or whatever you prefer... Set birds on the grill breast down and cook for 15 min. I move mine around after about 7 min just to get nice grill marks/even cooking. Turn the birds breast up, drizzle the remaining syrup, and wait till 180 degrees. (just to be safe, don't use that syrup with less than 10 min of cooking time left - it's been in contact with raw birds) Usually about 25 min total cooking time. If you like birds cooked a bit dark, I have started at 500 and choked the grill down to 300 over a 10 min period. When I do this I start with the breast side down.

Notes

Number of Servings: Variable

Time to Prepare: 1 Hr