NY State of Mind-Cornell Chicken/Syracuse Salt Potatoes

I'll add to this weekend's collection of chicken picture posts. I found out I was going to be home early enough on Sunday, I could grill something for supper. Originally had planned to make some nice steaks, but I received a 3rd "sign" I couldn't ignore. About 3 Weeks ago I saw a show on popular food from fairs & carnivals. They mentioned Cornell Chicken, which I'd never heard of, but looked excellent. A week ago Screaming Chicken made some Cornell Chicken and I thought: I need to try that. Saturday afternoon I got home and sat down with a cookbook to see which steak recipe I was going to make. I fired up the TV and my TiVo was recording a Cook's Country TV marathon. What were they making?You guessed it Cornell Chicken. It was a sign. So yesterday on the way home I picked up a 4 pound whole chicken and made the Cook's Country recipe together with some Syracuse salt potatoes from the same show. I'll also add the Cook's Country folks made some changes to the classic recipe for the Cornell Chicken. So if there are members of the Committee for the Conservation of Classic Cornell Chicken out there: Just deal with it. The chicken turned out excellent.





The chicken has been cut in half





The first change to the classic recipe was the use of a brine. It used salt, water and vinegar. The vinegar was intended to echo the flavor of the basting sauce.





The simple rub was salt, pepper and poultry rub.





The basting sauce used Dijon mustard, cider vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper, plus instead of more poultry rub added fresh sage and rosemary. I used an immersion blender to make the sauce.





The grill was preheated on high and was dropped down to medium low when the chicken halves were added.





The grill is at medium low and the chicken is skin side up and gets basted with the sauce.





Halfway through the 25 minute cooking time for the first side, the chicken gets basted again.







After 25 minutes the chicken was at an internal temp of 120 degrees and it is time to flip and finish it skin side down. It grills on medium low for about 25 more minutes until it hits 170 degrees.







Meanwhile time to start on the salt potatoes. The water has 1 1/2 cups of Kosher salt in it and has been brought to a boil. The small red potatoes simmer for 25 minutes. Then they are placed on a sheet pan with a wire rack to dry and the outside gets a thin coating of crystalized salt.





The Cornell chicken reached 170 and rests uncovered for 5 minutes before serving.





The Syracuse salt potatoes are served with some melted butter, pepper & chopped fresh chives on the side. You pour the butter mixture over the potatoes if desired.









Some finished shots of the chicken & salt potatoes.

This was an amazing meal. I meant to stop at the breast and wing, but I couldn't help myself and finished the whole chicken half. The chicken was extremely moist and flavorful. Even though it was cooked at a low heat, the skin was crispy and tasty from the sauce and rub. It was a unique flavor unlike any chicken I've had and was definitely up there with the best chicken I've made or eaten. The salt potatoes were great too. They had a bit of a crispy skin, there was a little snap when you bit in. There was just enough salt flavor which wasn't over powering. The interiors were nice and creamy and the butter sauce helped them just melt in your mouth. I have already been told I'm doing this x8 in two weeks for some dinner guests. Thanks Brad for the inspiration.

Jim

JIm,

Great looking meal, were the salted potatoes too salty? I am always looking for a new idea on potatoes.

Another awesome meal Jim. That chicken looks delectable.

Thanks guy & Gal.

sroach wrote:

..Great looking meal, were the salted potatoes too salty? I am always looking for a new idea on potatoes.

The recipe used 14oz. salt (by weight) to 8 cups water. They said this was reduced from the traditional recipe. They were on the good side of the line between too salty and highly seasoned. Now I don't know if I would have liked these with more salt than they had, but they were great as is.

Jim

Very nice JIm. Have wanted to try that recipe, but have never gotten a round to it.

I've seen the ATK "Cornell Chicken" episode a few times and I always enjoy it even though it always turns out the same. I think part of the appeal of Cornell Chicken is that it looks as good as it tastes...who can resist a crispy, golden grilled chicken?

Nice job, Jim!

Brad

Very, very nice! I wouldn't have stopped at just half the chicken though... I would have required an entire bird on my plate. Remember this when I show up spur of the moment.

I wonder if you could just use Mayonnaise for Cornell Chix?? Essentially, that is what you are making .... I am going to try adding some cider vinegar and poultry seasoning to some off-the-shelf Hellman's and see how I fare...

I've done this from scratch many times and loved it, but can;t help thinking there is a shortcut.

Thanks for looking at my post and commenting.

Dyal:
Thanks for the warning. On the way out I shall leave a whole chicken in a cooler in the shade right under the CG.

phillyjazz:
Somehow using mayo sets off alarm bells on several levels. The recipe is close to mayo, but minus the egg. I can't think of a single recipe where mayo is applied to the surface of something which is raw or partially cooked, while it is cooking. Never mind chicken. I don't know how well the mayo would hold up in the heat and don't know how well the diners would hold up after eating it. Me, I'd have to do a little research before trying that out.

Jim

That was another change that Cooks Country did to the recipe. The original does have an egg in it. I was wondering if mayo would work too. I have been looking at this recipe for years in BBQ USA, but still have not tried it. I will definitely have to give it a shot.

Looks great! This may be my next cook. Thanks!

Do you have any idea what the cooking temp was? The Cooks Country recipe says "light 75 coals". That could vary by 100d or more depending on grill size, grate location, etc.

SCmustardman wrote:

That was another change that Cooks Country did to the recipe. The original does have an egg in it. I was wondering if mayo would work too. I have been looking at this recipe for years in BBQ USA, but still have not tried it. I will definitely have to give it a shot.

The recipe I saw from the original prof looked just like hand-made mayo. I have made it with egg. Actually, I had used mayo as a binder for fried chicken many times in college (with crushed Fritos as breading !!)

Married_Man wrote:

Looks great! This may be my next cook. Thanks!

Do you have any idea what the cooking temp was? The Cooks Country recipe says "light 75 coals". That could vary by 100d or more depending on grill size, grate location, etc.

It was about 350 degrees and it took 30 minutes on the first side and 25 on the second side, about what the recipe called for. My bird weighed 4.18 pounds.

phillyjazz wrote:

SCmustardman wrote:

That was another change that Cooks Country did to the recipe. The original does have an egg in it. I was wondering if mayo would work too. I have been looking at this recipe for years in BBQ USA, but still have not tried it. I will definitely have to give it a shot.

The recipe I saw from the original prof looked just like hand-made mayo. I have made it with egg. Actually, I had used mayo as a binder for fried chicken many times in college (with crushed Fritos as breading !!)

Interesting, when you started talking about using mayo (containing egg) it just didn't sound like a good idea, especially on raw chicken. I couldn't think of any recipes I've seen where mayo was used like this. Evidently it is far more common than I thought.

Jim

jfm0830 wrote:

Thanks for looking at my post and commenting.

Dyal:
Thanks for the warning. On the way out I shall leave a whole chicken in a cooler in the shade right under the CG.

phillyjazz:
Somehow using mayo sets off alarm bells on several levels. The recipe is close to mayo, but minus the egg. I can't think of a single recipe where mayo is applied to the surface of something which is raw or partially cooked, while it is cooking. Never mind chicken. I don't know how well the mayo would hold up in the heat and don't know how well the diners would hold up after eating it. Me, I'd have to do a little research before trying that out.

Jim

Jim - actually, white barbecue sauce could be considered mayo-based and it's applied to cooking food. I've also cooked a number of great fish steak recipes that have started with a mayonnaise slather before the rub goes on. Mayo melts out in the heat and bastes the meat a bit, and it helps leave killer grill marks too. I've never, ever had a problem with it in the 20 years I've used it in grilling.

Oo la la, Jim! Way to go! I am a long time fan of Cornell chicken. I admit that i am also familiar with the egg as emulsifier in the marinade. And I have used mayo many a time for sealing in juices, for example on fish fillets which I roll in cornmeal. I've had great luck with it.

I sure do like the idea of your brined taters!