I’m originally from upstate New York and I grew up in a town called Elmira. Elmira is about 30 minutes away from Cornell University. I can remember when I was a young lad, riding my bike around the campgrounds in the Appalachian Mountains, waiting for dinner which was Cornell chicken. I have been reading the bullet site for some time now and I was surprised to see the rising popularity of Cornell chicken again. I remember when I had this last (about 25 years ago) that everyone was so worried that it contained a raw egg. Well, no one died so I guess it can’t be that bad as long as everything is cooked through.
Fast forward to 2012. I’m now in charge of grilling and smoking since my father has hung up his hamburger turner. I have been working on my smoking for the past couple of years. Last year I bought myself a 22.5 WSM and have never looked back. Now it was time to start working on the grilling part of the equation. This all started because we talked to one of our local butchers at the “warehouse” store and he recommended that we didn’t buy their ground hamburger. I was puzzled, he explained where most “ground hamburger” comes from and this didn’t sound like something that I wanted to eat. After talking with him for a few minutes, we bought a whole chuck roast and we were off to the local restaurant supply store to buy an electric meat grinder. When we got home, we ground it and grilled it. I had never tasted anything like it. As I mentioned before, I never looked back and this is why I decided to start grilling more.
Back to the chicken, after reading multiple posts on the Cornell chicken, I noticed that some were now marinating it overnight. This sounded like a good idea and wanted to try it. Off to the store I went to get the ingredients. (As a side note, I have been buying whole chickens and cutting them up myself and that has saved a lot of money and the trim of the meat is much better). The day before, I made the sauce for the chicken and put it into the fridge. The next morning I put the chicken in the sauce and gave it a shake every once in awhile. It was in the marinade for about 8 hours.
To prepare the fire, I have been using Royal Oak lump as it readily available and I have had good success with it. I also created a “safe zone” just in case. I had read on some posts that it smokes a little and if a fire breaks out, just close the lid and it will go out. After the grill was ready, I put the chicken on and closed the lid. We are the only house on our street so we can kind of do things without to much trouble. We do have a neighbor that is adjacent to us, but as they say, “Good fences make good neighbors”. The chicken was sizzling and all looked good. I was basing it about every five minutes. About 15 minutes into the cook, it was smoking, well a lot. I wasn’t to concerned…yet. The neighbor peeked over the fence and said, “Well at least it smells good.” Real encouraging. As the time progressed more smoke was coming out of the vent hole and there wasn’t a mosquito for a 20 mile radius. I did have a couple of flare ups, but I closed the lid and they went out. I was in my glory reliving my childhood memories until….the fire chopper flew over. It was getting dark and I was getting towards the end of the cook. I figured if the chopper lands in the front yard, I better save the boys in red a few drumsticks.
I let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes before we ate. When I took a bite into the first piece, it was as if I was on my bike again. Apparently I wasn’t a threat to the fire department as they just flew over and made a 180 degree turn and headed back the way they came. Maybe next time I’ll hold a up a drumstick from the front lawn and tell em’ “Thanks for everything”.
Tonight I’m getting ready to fire up the grill and make some Roadside Chicken. Maybe I can get the police department over tonight for a grill out. Have a good one…
Spencer
Fast forward to 2012. I’m now in charge of grilling and smoking since my father has hung up his hamburger turner. I have been working on my smoking for the past couple of years. Last year I bought myself a 22.5 WSM and have never looked back. Now it was time to start working on the grilling part of the equation. This all started because we talked to one of our local butchers at the “warehouse” store and he recommended that we didn’t buy their ground hamburger. I was puzzled, he explained where most “ground hamburger” comes from and this didn’t sound like something that I wanted to eat. After talking with him for a few minutes, we bought a whole chuck roast and we were off to the local restaurant supply store to buy an electric meat grinder. When we got home, we ground it and grilled it. I had never tasted anything like it. As I mentioned before, I never looked back and this is why I decided to start grilling more.
Back to the chicken, after reading multiple posts on the Cornell chicken, I noticed that some were now marinating it overnight. This sounded like a good idea and wanted to try it. Off to the store I went to get the ingredients. (As a side note, I have been buying whole chickens and cutting them up myself and that has saved a lot of money and the trim of the meat is much better). The day before, I made the sauce for the chicken and put it into the fridge. The next morning I put the chicken in the sauce and gave it a shake every once in awhile. It was in the marinade for about 8 hours.
To prepare the fire, I have been using Royal Oak lump as it readily available and I have had good success with it. I also created a “safe zone” just in case. I had read on some posts that it smokes a little and if a fire breaks out, just close the lid and it will go out. After the grill was ready, I put the chicken on and closed the lid. We are the only house on our street so we can kind of do things without to much trouble. We do have a neighbor that is adjacent to us, but as they say, “Good fences make good neighbors”. The chicken was sizzling and all looked good. I was basing it about every five minutes. About 15 minutes into the cook, it was smoking, well a lot. I wasn’t to concerned…yet. The neighbor peeked over the fence and said, “Well at least it smells good.” Real encouraging. As the time progressed more smoke was coming out of the vent hole and there wasn’t a mosquito for a 20 mile radius. I did have a couple of flare ups, but I closed the lid and they went out. I was in my glory reliving my childhood memories until….the fire chopper flew over. It was getting dark and I was getting towards the end of the cook. I figured if the chopper lands in the front yard, I better save the boys in red a few drumsticks.
I let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes before we ate. When I took a bite into the first piece, it was as if I was on my bike again. Apparently I wasn’t a threat to the fire department as they just flew over and made a 180 degree turn and headed back the way they came. Maybe next time I’ll hold a up a drumstick from the front lawn and tell em’ “Thanks for everything”.
Tonight I’m getting ready to fire up the grill and make some Roadside Chicken. Maybe I can get the police department over tonight for a grill out. Have a good one…
Spencer
