I met my friend John the other day for a beer at Clark's Ale House and he mentioned that his dad had finished construction on a trailer-sized grill and smoker (he showed me a picture of it on his Blackberry and it is impressive). Seems that John's dad had big plans - he had hit a huge sale at the grocery store and was making 40 lbs of Cornell recipe chicken for a Memorial Day cookout. I had never heard of Cornell Chicken but was intrigued, not only by the sheer amount that he could fit on that grill but also what made chicken "Cornell Chicken".
Apparently Cornell Chicken is a Central New York fixture (I guess as a transplant I hadn't come across this one yet) and Cornell tailgate parties and local firehouse barbeques are never complete without chicken prepared with this special barbeque sauce.
Naturally I had to try it. So when I got home I hit Google to figure out what all of the fuss was about. Apparently the late Cornell professor Robert C. Baker was the grand-daddy of American chicken consumption and with benevolent altruism bestowed on the world not only this barbeque sauce recipe but such other poultry-based foods as chicken nuggets and turkey ham to name a few.
After reading up on the recipe and the comments on a few different message boards where transplanted Central New Yorkers and locals alike waxed poetic about virtues of Cornell Chicken I knew I had to have it, so I hit the store and got my hands on a mess of legs and thighs.
The recipe looks like the average vinegar-based barbeque sauce recipe, nothing all that different from spiedies or even North Carolina style barbeque sauce:
Cornell Chicken Barbeque Sauce/Finger Lakes Marinade Recipe
Recipe for Barbeque Sauce (enough for 10 halves):
1 cup cooking oil
1 pint cider vinegar
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
Beat the egg, then add the oil and beat again. Add other ingredients and stir. The recipe can be varied to suit individual tastes.
I think the true magic of this sauce is in the egg. Think about what an egg wash does to bread, it browns it and gives it a nice crust. Same thing happens here - the chicken gets brown and crispy. The egg also helps the marinade stick pretty well to the chicken. I opted to skin the chicken first in an attempt to go for the healthy choice and it was still crispy even without the skin.
A long soak in the marinade and generous mopping often during the cooking also helped quite a bit with the flavor. And boy was the flavor awesome - tangy with just the right amount of salty and savory to complement the chicken's juiciness perfectly!
Unfortunately we ate it all before I got any pictures but you get the idea. So here's to you Professor Baker, the colonel ain't got nothing on your chicken!
Apparently Cornell Chicken is a Central New York fixture (I guess as a transplant I hadn't come across this one yet) and Cornell tailgate parties and local firehouse barbeques are never complete without chicken prepared with this special barbeque sauce.
Naturally I had to try it. So when I got home I hit Google to figure out what all of the fuss was about. Apparently the late Cornell professor Robert C. Baker was the grand-daddy of American chicken consumption and with benevolent altruism bestowed on the world not only this barbeque sauce recipe but such other poultry-based foods as chicken nuggets and turkey ham to name a few.
After reading up on the recipe and the comments on a few different message boards where transplanted Central New Yorkers and locals alike waxed poetic about virtues of Cornell Chicken I knew I had to have it, so I hit the store and got my hands on a mess of legs and thighs.
The recipe looks like the average vinegar-based barbeque sauce recipe, nothing all that different from spiedies or even North Carolina style barbeque sauce:
Cornell Chicken Barbeque Sauce/Finger Lakes Marinade Recipe
Recipe for Barbeque Sauce (enough for 10 halves):
1 cup cooking oil
1 pint cider vinegar
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
Beat the egg, then add the oil and beat again. Add other ingredients and stir. The recipe can be varied to suit individual tastes.
I think the true magic of this sauce is in the egg. Think about what an egg wash does to bread, it browns it and gives it a nice crust. Same thing happens here - the chicken gets brown and crispy. The egg also helps the marinade stick pretty well to the chicken. I opted to skin the chicken first in an attempt to go for the healthy choice and it was still crispy even without the skin.
A long soak in the marinade and generous mopping often during the cooking also helped quite a bit with the flavor. And boy was the flavor awesome - tangy with just the right amount of salty and savory to complement the chicken's juiciness perfectly!
Unfortunately we ate it all before I got any pictures but you get the idea. So here's to you Professor Baker, the colonel ain't got nothing on your chicken!
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3 comments:
This sounds really good. Just might have to try it this weekend! Looking forward to reading more.
Hey, Keith--found your site via Carrie's FB page. All good stuff here.
I actually used this recipe not long ago for a cookout. My parents introduced me to this in HS when we were in Ithaca, and I was hooked. I've tried again in adulthood thanks to the intertoobs, and man-o-man is it good.
Thanks for the history of the recipe!
Good to hear from you Chris - hope all is well! Yes, it's a great recipe - I'm actually planning on using this marinade and then smoking the chicken in my new Father's Day present tomorrow. Hopefully it won't disappoint.
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