Old Texas Recipes

GRANDMA'S CHOCOLATE TEXAS SHEET CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10x15-inch cake pan.
• Combine butter, water, and cocoa powder for cake in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until butter has melted and mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
• Meanwhile, mix flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Beat buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla extract together in a separate bowl.
• Add melted butter mixture to the flour mixture, then add buttermilk-egg mixture and beat until thoroughly combined. Pour into the prepared cake pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Remove cake from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, combine butter, milk, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract for the frosting in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until butter melts, then stir in powdered sugar. Spread frosting over the warm cake.

OLD STYLE TEXAS BOILED BRISKET

Steps:

• Cover one brisket flat with water to in large pot and cook on stovetop. Add a little salt and black pepper, a drop or two of worceshire, a little splash of lemon juice, crush 3 or 4 cloves of garlic and add to pot. a small sprinkling of thyme. when brisket begins to pull apart with two forks you may want to add a little crushed red pepper.
• The key here is not to over-do the spices, it should still taste like beef and not chili or spicy bbq. You could basically just boil the meat until tender and add salt and pepper after its done. Serve on plain warmed buns slathered with mayonnaise with dill pickles and onion slices.
• As the brisket cooks the water will go away. You may need to add a little water during the cooking process, but near the end when the meat muscle fibers begin to break down the water will just sort of dissolve and the meat will be very tender. Cooking time is determined by size of meat and heat. You could speed it up some with a higher setting, but I cook on big burner on a setting of about 3-4 (out of 10max) after bringing it to a boil. A typical trimmed brisket flat works great for this because it fits in a stovetop pot, and doesn't take too long- should be ready in 4-5 hours cooked slowly until the meat is easily pulled apart with two forks.