Whether you believe the hype or not, Engagement Chicken is a delicious meal, and the perfect thing to make for Valentine's Day. And it wouldn't hurt if he actually got down on one knee after eating it, right? The myth surrounding this magical recipe is that when women make it for their boyfriends, a few months later, he will propose, and the success rate is pretty unbelievable.
The magical recipe was created in 1982 by Glamour magazine's fashion editor Kim Bonnell when she came back from Italy and gave the recipe to a co-worker who prepared it for her boyfriend. Soon after the two shared the meal, they were engaged. It eventually made its way around the office and, before they knew it, three other women received marriage proposals after making the dish for their men.
Once Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive got wind of those success stories nearly 20 years later, she decided to call the recipe Engagement Chicken and publish it in the December 2003 issue. Letters quickly started piling in from women getting ready to walk down the aisle after making the tasty chicken and, as of March 2011, more than 70 women claimed the dish worked for them.
So what's so great about this chicken, anyway? Honestly, it's nothing special. It's your typical roast chicken recipe. Is it delicious? Yes. But there's no secret ingredient or magical element that's making men run out to buy a diamond ring.
Glamour's original recipe calls for one whole chicken, lemon juice, three whole lemons, salt, pepper and fresh herbs, including rosemary, sage, thyme and parsley, for garnishing. That's it.
The recipe is pretty much the perfect meal to make for Valentine's Day, especially if you're looking to get hitched sometime soon. Food Network's Ina Garten also has her very own Engagement Chicken recipe that also sounds delicious and includes a whole head of garlic, olive oil, dry white wine, Spanish onions, chicken stock and flour. However, if you're looking to put the chicken to the test and see if he'll pop the question, you might want to stick to the original, magical recipe.
Even popular radio host Howard Stern (sort of) fell into the trap. In 2004, his girlfriend at the time Beth Ostrosky wanted to get him to propose and saw the recipe in Glamour, so she decided to cook the chicken for him.
"I swear to you, he had never been love-ier or more romantic. He was saying the sweetest things to me," she told the New York Post. "And, in the back of my mind, I was chuckling, 'Wow, that magazine knows what it's doing.'"
The next morning, Stern couldn't stop raving about the meal on his radio show. "He started talking about the lemons 'up the chicken's butt' when a woman called in and said: 'Howard, you just described Engagement Chicken. Beth wants you to marry her.'"
After this call, he immediately called Ostrosky to question her and she knew she was busted. But then, about three years later, on Valentine's Day in 2007, Stern, who once vowed to never marry again, proposed!
"I think [Stern proposed] because of the way it was going with us," she explained. "And I can cook a mean chicken."
