Bananas Foster

A little historical background here. New Orleans was a major center for banana imports from Central and South America.

In 1951 Brennan’s was a well known New Orleans restaurant. The owner Owen Brennan asked his chef Paul Blangé and sister Ella to come up with a new dessert using bananas. He wanted to name it after his friend Richard Foster the chairman of the New Orleans Crime Commission. At the time, Owen’s younger brother John was running “Brennan’s Processed Potato Company,”. Said produce company had a major surplus of bananas. What Paul and Ella came up with is now the world renowned Bananas Foster.

The dramatic, flambéed result is now the most-ordered item on Brennan’s menu. A mind boggling thirty-five thousand pounds of bananas are sautéed each year in South American rum (but of course!) in preparation of the signature dessert.

Haven’t decided if this pirate would use rum in such a manner!

************************************************************************************************************************

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, ground

• 1/4 cup dark rum

• 1/4 cup banana liqueur

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 4 bananas, cut in half lengthwise, then halved

• 4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Directions:

Combine butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a large sauté pan. Place pan over low heat and cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Stir in banana liqueur, then place bananas in pan. When bananas soften and begin to brown, carefully add rum. Continue to cook sauce until rum is hot, then tip pan slightly to igniter rum. When flames subside, lift bananas out of pan and place four pieces over each portion of ice cream. Generously spoon warm sauce over ice cream and serve immediately.

************************************************************************************************************************

Filched from:

Google Bananas Foster The Daily Meal