Culinarians think they know strudel. Can you answer these questions? Did it originate in Austria or Germany? Is it a Turkish baklava or a Texas pastry? You might be surprised to find the answers to these questions may be as fluid as a whirlpool.

When German Baroness Bonburst sang, “You’re the Apfelstrudel of mein eye,” in Disney’s 1968 “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” classic movie, it may have cemented the popular idea that the sweet pastry originated in Germany. However, the first hand-written strudel recipe is housed in Austria’s Vienna Town Hall Library dating back to 1697. Even so, scholars think it was popular long before that in the Ottoman Empire and came to Central Europe through the empire’s strong ties to Turkey, the Middle East and its traditional baklava.

The strudel and baklava are related with its many layers of unleavened thin dough and sweet fillings of apples, nuts and syrups. When you cut a piece from a rolled strudel, the inside looks like a whirlpool. In fact, the word strudel is derived from the German word for whirlpool or eddy.

Although the application’s history suggests that it is only a sweet dessert, the dish has morphed into a savory meal. Not traveling too far from its German roots, savory strudels have been made with braised cabbage, caramelized onions and caraway seeds.

Here in the United States, chefs have turned the flavorful pastry into everything from an appetizer to a main meal. Chef Paul Fehribach of Big Jones Southern Kitchen and Bar restaurant in Chicago crafted a potato-filled strudel. “I created this recipe many years ago because we all love savory pies, why not savory strudel? It gives me a chance to practice my strudel chops, and is a high-satisfaction vegetarian appetizer, or entree when combined with a salad or some roasted mushrooms,” he said.

“Idaho potatoes are a must for this strudel because they combine ideal high-starch, low-moisture characteristics with robust potato flavor. No other potato gives you that fluffy texture that is advantageous.”

So, are apple strudels just Eastern European and savory potato-filled applications only American? The discussion keeps going around. Texans are very fond of their sweet strudels and the 78^th Texas Legislature officially designated the strudel (along with the sopaipilla) as the state’s official pastry in 2003.