Cornell Chicken

Slow-cooked over charcoal and basted with a unique marinade, Cornell chicken comes off the grill with a gold glaze and plush meat. It was created in 1946 by Robert Baker, whose goal in life was to encourage people to eat more chicken. When Baker became a professor at Cornell University in 1957, he brought the recipe with him; and, as Cornell chicken, served at Baker’s Chicken Coop booth at the annual New York State Fair in Syracuse, it was a hit for half a century. Long a favorite of backyard barbecuists throughout New York’s Southern Tier, Cornell chicken’s primary role is as picnic food at fund-raisers, political rallies and church suppers. (Professor Baker, by the way, also invented chicken nuggets.)