Grilled Cornell Chicken - My Way

(Printable R

1 pkg. of 10-12 chicken legs
2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 egg
1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 cup of EVOO
1 tbsp. poultry seasoning
3 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 tsp. pepper
paper towels

Dab each chicken leg with a paper towel or two.  Set aside.

As they come to room temperature, the chicken pieces will be "sweating" so keep dabbing with a dry paper towel.

In the meantime, in a medium size mixing bowl, mix the butter and the oil.

Add the apple cider and the egg and mix thoroughly

add the secret ingredient, uh-ehr the dry poultry seasoning.

Stir thoroughly.  Add salt & pepper to taste.

Add enough of the sauce to cover the bottom of a marinating tray.  Notice how this container has a multitude of raised peaks in order to let the sauce to get under the meat, even as it sets for hours.  If you don't have one......get one!  (I've had this one for decades(?) - I bought if from Tupperware and I'd be lost without it.

Add the chicken and then use enough sauce to almost cover the chicken legs.

Look at my lovely babies marinating in the sauce and soaking up so much deliciousness.  The neat trick about this container is that I can flip it upside down as the inside of the top also contains the little raised peaks. Let marinate for an hour (do not refrigerate) or marinate in the refrigerator over night (bring to room temp. before you grill them though) flipping several times.

When ready to grill, place on a hot grill, turned down to med heat.  Use marinating sauce to baste often.  Cook low and slow, I know that's hard, at least at my house it is, Hubby starts getting ravenous about this time.

Flip only once - I learned that tip on "Grilling Week" on the Martha Stewart radio show on Sirius.  I learned lots of grilling tips this past week.

I have been eating Cornell Chicken since the first Summer I spent in upstate New York, which was almost 30 years ago.  My hubby and I were still newlyweds and we spent our vacation with family just below Ithaca, NY - where Cornell Univ., is located.   At first I thought that those gringos in upstate New York forgot to put the Hunts BBQ sauce on their barbecue but then when I tasted the pale - plain looking chicken it was quite the opposite!  I never experienced all the flavors that were roaming around in my mouth.  I couldn't get enough of it, it was sooooo good.  A couple of years later, my mother-in-law sent us the recipe, I'm not sure how she found it but we've been using it ever since.  So, please, I beg of you, try this sauce at least once this Summer and let me know how it faired.  Regarding the ingredients, the original sauce asked for a cup of oil and through the years I always thought it was a bit too "watery" so, this time I only added 1/2 cup of oil but I also added a stick of butter knowing it would help all the flavors stick to the meat instead of roll off.  Well.....drum roll please......IT WORKED!!!  WOW!!  I'm convinced it enhanced the flavors!  So amazing that  I'm keeping this recipe, that's why I added "My Way" to the end of the title.  Happy grilling!!!

I partied at:

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