American fast food is world-class, but the country has much more to offer in terms of exquisite gastronomic classics.
Our nation has many iconic dishes, from warm bowls of Cincinnati chili to East Coast Italian sandwiches and Key lime pie.
This coconut and bourbon–filled Southern layer cake is so Alabama that Harper Lee included it in To Kill a Mockingbird.
In the late 19th century, Clayton home cook Emma Rylander Lane devised it and won first prize at a county fair in Columbus, Georgia.
he included the recipe in her cookbook. The recipe has been modified many times by Southern cooks, but it normally consists of white sponge cake layers filled with bourbon-soaked pecans, raisins, and coconut.
The greatest coconut-pecan cake is at Bottega Café in Birmingham.William Bayley, Sr., owner of Bayley's Steak House in Dauphin Island in South Alabama (now closed), invented this unusual salad in 1947.
The regional specialty, served at Felix's Fish Camp in Spanish Fort, is lump blue crab meat with chopped white onions marinated in oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper.