On my way to Belfast, I got increasingly more excited about the prospect of meeting so many people from around the globe. As a food lover, I was also looking forward to sampling local dishes that reflect the history and pride of Ireland. But, before I could do any of these things, I had to get through the Houston-Bush Airport!
Texas has a rich culinary history and a tremendous present considering the concentration of barbecue joints, steak houses and coffee shops in cities such as Dallas, Houston and Austin. Unfortunately, the Lone Star state has also given birth to oodles of chain restaurants, which gave Americans a strange assortment of food chunks--riblets, chicken fingers and onion blossoms--and variations of brownie sundaes. Although the brownie sundae can be a suitable way to end a meal of potato skins and taquitos, Texas has a much more interesting dessert.
I'm glad I learned that German Chocolate Cake is actually a Texan, not a Bavarian, treat before I offended some of the German participants of my Belfast conference by asking them if they loved it as much as I do. Some lore says that a German chocolate cake recipe first appeared in 1957, when a Dallas woman sent in a recipe for German's chocolate cake to a newspaper. This may be untrue considering Kraft's German's Chocolate was a brand of chocolate that packaged bars of baking chocolate beginning in the 1850s. Also, the cake's chocolate buttermilk base has a longer history. That's a history mystery I would love to solve, but in the meantime I implore you to try it next time you are in a bakery. The multi-layer cake features a wonderful pecan, coconut filling and frosting made from a simple syrup, borderline caramel base.
Alright, it's time to get on a plane to Newark, New Jersey!
Happy Eating!
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