A popular chicken BBQ event just got a whole lot more delicious, with family packs and free delivery available for the first time.
Mattituck Presbyterian Church’s Annual Chicken BBQ takes place Saturday from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets cost $20; take-out only, with delivery available for family fun packs.
The BBQ will be held on the church grounds at 12605 Main Road in Mattituck. According to event organizer, Rory MacNish, MPC’s Chicken BBQ has been a North Fork tradition for more than 50 years, and the funds are raised solely to support the church’s mission work, both locally and abroad, including a food program, a 30-year mission to Haiti, Long Island youth mentoring, a domestic violence mission, Youth For Christ, and Gideons International.
MacNish said the history behind the mouthwateringly tempting chicken goes back to a professor of poultry and food science at Cornell University, “Barbecue Bob Baker”, who “invented the chicken marinade back in the 1950s to promote the sale of chickens.”
The farmers, MacNish said, “were doing just fine with the sale of eggs, but the recipe caught on and is now being used on big chicken BBQs across the county including at the Cutchogue Chicken BBQ. If you go to a church or a fire department barbecue, you’re probably going to get that Cornell recipe,” he said.
With an eye toward raising funds for MPC’s mission work, MacNish has set his sights on selling 1000 tickets for this year’s event, roughly double last year’s sales.
MacNish said he took over orchestrating the festivities from the previous a previous organizer who passed away; he has been at the helm for over 15 years.
The recipe, he said, “is not a secret”; a simple Google search calls up variations, including one adapted by famed chef Bobby Flay.
“The two things that make the Cornell recipe work is the egg, and the combination of the apple cider vinegar and the oil,” he said; basting and marinating the chicken give it the crowd-pleasing flavor. Although he prefers to marinate the birds overnight, MacNish said, “You can still get a pretty good flavor even if you marinate three to four hours beforehand.”
Preparations for Saturday’s event begin in early May, with MacNish applying for an Suffolk County Department of Health permit. Next, a large group of volunteers is organized to shuck corn, prepare the cole slaw, prep the cornbread and brownies, fork the potatoes for baking, and set up and work the fire pits.
Over 500 chickens were purchased for the event.
New family fun packs offer guests dinners at a discount:
Six dinners for $100
Eight dinners for $130
10 dinners for $160
12 dinners for $190.
Free delivery for the family fun packs will take place between 5 and 7 p.m.
In addition, those who’d like to use the Water Club, MacNish said, can have their meals delivered there.
The event isn’t MacNish’s only turn at the grill. On Friday, July 18, Mattituck Presbyterian Church will host its “Awakening 14” fundraiser from 6 to 9 p.m. at Founders Landing in Southold. Tickets cost $30 and include a steak dinner, dessert, live worship music, a Chinese auction and raffles.
According to event organizer, Monica Harbes, the event will raise funds for “Awakening 14,” a two-day tent revival event, scheduled to be held at Strawberry Fields in Mattituck on August 2 and 3.
“It will be a wonderful night of fellowship, food, and live music, as we come together to support the movement of God across all of Long Island. It is pretty exciting, really,” Harbes said.
And, on the menu — MacNish’s famous “Rory Steak”.
MacNish’s steaks are widely populuar; he uses rib eye steaks, marinated overnight with arecipe similar to the Elbow Room marinade, he said, and then cooked over charcoal.
“The marinade and the smoke create the Rory Steak,” MacNish said.. “I guess what Rory McIlroy is to golf, Rory MacNish is to steak. The demand is put on me for that.”
He added, “People have come up to me and said, ‘Rory, this steak is one of the top three I’ve had in my life'”.
Cooking, he said, comes naturally. MacNish’s great-grandfather was a chef, as were other relatives. “I come from a long line of chefs,” he said. “If that’s something that’s hereditary, I guess it’s been passed along to me.”
A tent will be set up outside the church on Saturday for ticket sales; to order in advance call 631-298-4145.
