FOOD | Julianne Glatz
Certain foods have become intrinsically linked with state fairs throughout most of the nation. Salt water taffy. Snow cones. Cotton candy. Lemonade shakeups. Recently there’s been an influx of increasingly bizarre items that are deep-fried or on a stick – or both. Many are outrageously over-the-top, the heights of their caloric content only equaled by the depths of their nutritional value.
But there’s at least one exception. An iconic state food that’s both nutritious and delicious, it’s been an integral part of the New York State Fair, held in Syracuse, for more than 60 years. Much more than just a state fair treat, it’s had a major impact on American eating habits: Cornell Chicken.
Although it’s closely associated with the New York State Fair and Cornell University, Cornell chicken had its debut in Philadelphia in 1946, at a University of Pennsylvania dinner honoring Pennsylvania governor Edward Martin. Dr. Bob Baker, a young professor of poultry science, was asked to come up with an unusual dish for the occasion. Baker’s research centered on finding ways to get people to eat more chicken. Strange though it seems today, until then chickens were raised commercially primarily for eggs. Fried chicken was a spring specialty, eaten when the young birds were tender. In later months, larger chickens were roasted, baked or stewed; and only those larger chickens were considered flavorful enough to make chicken stock and salad. Chicken was a treat: Herbert Hoover’s campaign slogan promising “A Chicken in Every Pot” implied prosperity.
Baker’s idea was to develop a market for a chicken with a dressed weight of 2½ to 3½ lbs., which would increase poultry farmers’ turnover. And so was born the “broiler.”
Baker’s grilled chicken was a big hit at that university dinner. But it wasn’t until he joined the poultry sciences department at Cornell University in 1949, and his recipe and method appeared in a university publication, that it became famous as Cornell Chicken. Baker opened a stand, Baker’s Chicken Coop, at the New York State Fair to serve his special creation. More than 60 years later, Cornell Chicken is still an integral part of the New York State Fair. Baker’s Chicken Coop is still in existence. Now run by Baker’s descendents who still use his original recipe and method, it serves as many as 5,000 chickens a day to hungry fairgoers.
Baker died in 2006, leaving behind a legacy not just of Cornell Chicken, but more than 40 other poultry innovations, including turkey ham, chicken and turkey hot dogs, and something that, as far as I’m concerned, is the evil twin of his wonderful grilled chicken innovation: chicken nuggets. McDonald’s is usually credited (or blamed) for inventing chicken nuggets, but Baker published his unpatented recipe in an academic journal in the 1950s. McDonald’s patented theirs in 1979. I don’t know how much of McDonald’s version is based on Baker’s – but I suspect (and hope) not much!
Contact Julianne Glatz at realcuisine.jg@gmail.com.
