Crispy Cornell Chicken

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I have a friend who is famous. And what’s she famous for? Her cooking, of course. Well, that and her awesome hair…I’ve always wanted her hair. She is a food writer (check out her contributions to mom.me here…she is hysterical) and she’s also a fabulous chef who has catered for the likes of John Stewart and The Daily Show. You can check out her blog (not currently blogging, but still lots of great recipes there) or maybe you’ll be able to catch one of her cooking segments on CNBC Charlotte Today. Needless to say, when she says a recipe is good, I take note and listen (and then run to my kitchen to make it). She mentioned making something called “Cornell Chicken” the other day on facebook, so I thought I’d give it a try.

I let my fingers do the googling and found out that this chicken was invented by a professor of food science at Cornell University way back in the day. Professor Bob Baker also invented things like chicken nuggets, turkey ham and poultry hot dogs. You can view his original recipe here, but I think I’ll pass on the turkey ham. I like my ham to be a ham and my turkey to be a turkey 😉

Ideally, this recipe is intended for whole or quartered chicken and it is traditionally cooked on the BBQ grill. However, I was far too lazy to be bothered with quartering and chopping up a whole chicken (regular readers won’t be at all surprised 😉 ). It also happened to be raining and I didn’t feel like trying to fire up the grill in the rain (again, too lazy), so I browned this up on the stove top before finishing it off in the oven. I can’t wait until BBQ weather so that I can try it out on the grill.

The Verdict: Yep, pretty darn good. The skin gets super crispy, and I can imagine that it gets even more crisp if you do it up on the grill. Really nice flavors in the chicken, but nothing overpowering (in other words, it would pair well with anything). So, thanks for the inspiration Jenny! Now, if you would just let me in on the secret to great hair…

Ingredients

• 8 skin on chicken thighs
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons rotisserie (poultry) seasoning*
• Pepper to taste

* Make your own poultry seasoning blend

• 3 Tablespoons dry sage
• 1 Tablespoon thyme
• 1 Tablespoon marjoram
• 1 Tablespoon rosemary
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 Tablespoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• Grind it all together to make a fine spice powder blend. You’ll have some left over!

Instructions

1. Whisk the oil and egg together.
2. Add in the vinegar and spices and mix well (I used an immersion blender).
3. Put the chicken in a large zip lock bag and pour the marinade in with it.
   

   Marinating chicken

4. Now smoosh it all together and put it in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.
5. Either grill the chicken on the BBQ or you can quickly brown it on the stove top and finish it in a 425 F (220 C) oven for about 20-30 minutes (baste a few times during the cooking time) or until the juices run clear.
   

   Brown it on the stove top first

   

   The finished chicken

    

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