Beat the egg, then add oil and beat again. Add other ingredients, then stir. The recipe can be varied to suit individual tastes. Makes enough for 10 chicken halves. Leftover sauce can be stored in a glass jar and stored in a refrigerator for several weeks.

Baker suggests that to cook chicken broilers, you need a hot, non-flaming fire. Broilers should be placed over the cooking fire after the flames are gone. Use this barbecue sauce as a basting material, he suggests. During cooking, the sauce should be brushed on the chicken every few minutes.

* Salt may be eliminated to suit health needs. 

(Source: Cornell University)

Operated by the family of Dr. Robert C. Baker, the originator of the Cornell Recipe.

Ambiance: After selling barbecue chicken from a stand on the grounds of the former Del-Sego Drive-In Theatre, Griffin Brooks opened his first restaurant in 1958. The building was greatly expanded in 1966 and looks much the same today. The decor is mid-1960s neo-Western/Colonial, featuring wagon wheel light fixtures and counter stools styled like little captain's chairs. The walls are decorated with country and chicken kitsch, most notably a mural over the counter area showing the life cycle of a chicken: first an egg, then a baby chick, then an adult chicken, then a chicken half grilling over the coals. (Thankfully the gory part of the story was omitted.) At busy times, expect a wait for a table, but counter seating is almost always available. Or, you can order take-out and picnic on the grounds.

Food: The Brooks chicken half is the standard by which the others are to be judged. Chickens obtained at the restaurant are flavorful and grilled to perfection- the wing and drumstick easily break away at the joint. Some Brooks chickens obtained at catering locations are slightly lower quality (since many catered events are exceptionally busy, there's pressure to rush chicken to meet demand.) Dinner at the restaurant comes with choice of baked potato or French fries (homemade, a little soggy but tasty) and salad bar (also a throwback to 1966, mostly iceberg lettuce but good quality.)

Ambiance: Relatively new restaurant with an attractive dining room decorated with country and chicken kitsch. Outdoor dining is also available on a front porch.

Food: Giffy's chicken rates below the others. The chicken seems dry (as though it were left on the grill too long) and then they try to revive it by adding more sauce, resulting in an overly vinegary taste. Dinner comes with a choice of baked potato or French fries, cole slaw, rolls, and a very good sugar cookie.

A little different since they use a rotisserie instead of placing chicken halves flat over the coals.

Ambiance: PJ's Bar B Q is located in a nearly intact 1950s A & W Root Beer drive-in, repainted white from the original orange. Car hop service is not available (the car canopy now shades picnic tables) and indoor seating is available on reject McDonald's furniture. Other aspects of PJ's operation pay tribute to the 1950s as well. The restaurant frequently sponsors cruise nights with DJ Johnny "Be" Goode playing oldies music, and PJ's "1950s House" across the street is a mini-museum of period memorabilia. Owners PJ and Carolyn Davis attended college in Oneonta, and Carolyn once worked at Brooks.

Food: PJ's chicken half is larger than the others (with noticeably more breast meat) and also more expensive. Baked potatoes are not available, but dinners come with curly fries.