recipe 
yields
4 servings
¼ cup Benton’s bacon fat
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and quartered
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ cup brown sugar
Pinch kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon canola oil
¼ cup minced sweet onion
1 tablespoon tomato paste
½ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup Muddy Pond sorghum
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 semi-boneless quail
½ pound Benton’s sausage
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
Fried Apples
Sorghum Barbecue Sauce
Stuffed Quail
steps
Fried Apples
In a large skillet over medium-low heat, melt bacon drippings. Spread apples evenly over skillet bottom. Sprinkle lemon juice over apples, followed by brown sugar and salt. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, until apples are tender and juicy. Finish with salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Sorghum Barbecue Sauce
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm oil. Add onion and sweat until tender but not colored, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook until starting to color, another 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to very low and simmer until the sauce thickens, up to 2 hours.
Stuffed Quail
- Stuff cavity of each quail with 1 ounce of sausage. Chill in refrigerator 10 minutes before cooking.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season quail all over with salt and pepper. Heat a cast-iron skillet over high heat until oil slides easily over pan. Sear quail, breast side down, until dark golden brown, about 1 minute. Flip and cook an additional minute.
- Place on a rack-lined baking pan and repeat with remaining quail. Place quail in the preheated oven and cook until an internal temperature of 140 degrees. (Note: Quail is juiciest when cooked to medium.) Plate quail with apples and sorghum barbecue sauce.
Date Published: 10.17.13
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- From Matt Gallaher, chef-owner at Knox Mason, Knoxville, Tennessee
