The Story

One delicious way to kick off your Memorial Day celebration is by popping a cold one in honor of the man who has helped make barbecued chicken one of America’s favorite picnic foods. Cornell University professor, Robert Baker, is the creator of the famous Cornell Barbecue Chicken Sauce, the recipe that is often referred to as “State Fair Chicken.” This simple and tasty sauce can be used as a fabulous 2-hour marinade or for basting chicken on the grill. The Cornell Barbecue Sauce isn’t the only iconic recipe to come from Professor Baker. He is also the inventor of more than 40 other recipes including chicken-and-turkey hot dogs and the world-famous chicken nugget (McDonald’s generally gets the credit for inventing the chicken nuggets, but Baker published his chicken nugget recipe in the 1950’s, while McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets recipe was patented in 1979). Another creation that probably helped land Baker in the Poultry Hall of Fame (yes, there is one!) was his revolutionary method of binding breading to chicken, which is used in hundreds of food applications today. In the book, “The Lexicon of Real American Food,” it says that Robert Baker’s goal in life was to get people to eat more chicken. Mission accomplished – especially this weekend!