Following our rant over the New York Times naming Cornell Chicken as the main dish of Syracuse, it got us wondering: What in the world is Cornell Chicken? It's actually a pretty common dish/recipe here in Upstate New York.

Local food fan David Kimball, wrote to us to correctly identify the famous chicken. Even though we don't normally call it Cornell Chicken, you might recognize the name. Most of the fire departments and churches in our local area use some variation of this recipe for Cornell Chicken we are about to share with you. First though, a little history lesson.

Bob Baker was a professor of food science at Cornell University.  Baker traveled the world innovating how people eat and view chicken. He helped invent chicken nuggets, turkey ham, and poultry hot dogs. However, his simple recipe for Cornell Chicken is his local claim to fame. There's actually a ton of science that goes into Cornell Chicken. Meaning, the method of how to cook and season.

He spent his entire academic life at Cornell University (1957-1989), and published some 290 research papers. In 1970 he founded the university's Institute of Food Science and Marketing. Baker was elected a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists in 1997.

In addition to creating the chicken nugget, he is also responsible for a revolutionary way to bind breading to chicken, co-invented the machine responsible for deboning chicken and created the chicken and turkey hot dogs and turkey ham.

Baker's famous recipe for Cornell Chicken was actually innovated while Baker was at Penn State, but never gained appreciation until he joined the faculty of Cornell. This is where the legend was born. Today, many world class cooks use a variation of this recipe. Bobby Flay dedicated an episode of "Barbecue Addiction: Bobby's Basics" to this famous chicken.

Chef Flay hits the grill with an Upstate New York favorite: tangy, herbaceous Cornell Chicken with Grilled Steak Fries.

You can find all the ingredients, and the full recipe, by Clicking Here.


 

BONUS VIDEO- WHAT IN THE WORLD IS CORNELL CHICKEN?

 

 

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