The chicken nugget was invented in the 1950s by Robert C. Baker, a food science professor at Cornell University, and published as unpatented academic work. This bite sized piece of chicken, coated in batter and then deep fried, was called the "Chicken Crispie" by Baker and his associates. Baker created the nugget after discovering a way to keep ground meat together without skin, along with batter that wouldn't shrink when frozen or expand when fried. Baker achieved the concoction by grinding the chicken meat with vinegar and salt in order to dry it.
