Was it all a big coincidence?
Of course.
There's a reason that the old wives' tale about the way to a man's heart being through his stomach is an old wives' tale.
But "Engagement Chicken" sounds catchy and makes for a great story, which is why Glamour published a recipe for it in 2004. And what do you know, the magazine began hearing from female readers who'd made it for their boyfriends and wound up engaged.
Engagement Chicken quickly became a celebrity.
Glamour editors went on NBC's "Today" show to demonstrate how to make the dish. Print headlines also followed, as word spread about the recipe - chicken stuffed with whole fresh lemons, basted with "marry me" drippings from the pan, and garnished with fresh herbs.
Engagement Chicken got its biggest boost after radio shock jock Howard Stern had it. The morning after, he was raving about the meal on the air when a female listener called in and informed Stern that it sounded as if he'd been served Engagement Chicken. Stern contacted his then-girlfriend Beth Ostrosky, who confessed what she'd been up to.
"I was busted," Ostrosky told the New York Post.
Stern, who was divorced and had vowed never to marry again, proposed (three years later), and the couple wed in 2008.
The legend of Engagement Chicken continues. It's the marquee item in a new cookbook called 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know: Engagement Chicken and 99 Other Fabulous Dishes to Get You Everything You Want in Life (Hyperion, $24.99) by Cindi Leive and the editors of Glamour.
The book includes wedding anniversary dates and names of couples who claim Engagement Chicken clinched the proposal for them. But I'm not sold.
There's not a gospel bird alive that's that powerful.
