Helen Corbitt
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Helen Corbitt (1906 - 1978) was a popular Texas chef and cookbook author. Helen Corbitt was born in New York but spent nearly 40 years in Texas educating many in the state to the delights of gourmet cooking. Corbitt created new and unusual flavor combinations and serving temperatures. She traveled widely searching for new culinary inspiration. She was an early advocate of using the finest, freshest ingredients. It is said that before Helen Corbitt, the only fruit salad in Texas came from a can.
She moved to Austin in 1931 from her job as dietitian at Cornell Medical Center in New York City to manage the tearoom at the University of Texas. She was lured to the Houston Country Club before operating the tearoom at Joske's department store in Houston and had started her own catering business when the Driskill Hotel called her back to Austin. In 1955, after being courted by Stanley Marcus for eight years, she joined Neiman-Marcus as Director of Food Services. Several of her recipes are still on the department store's menu, including her famous Poppy Seed Dressing. Corbitt authored numerous cookbooks and was the first woman to receive the Golden Plate Award, the highest honor in the food business.
