Banana Foster

1. Peel the bananas and cut them in half lengthwise, then half each piece of banana.
2. Add brown sugar, butter and cinnamon in a flambé pan or a large skillet. Stir everything together using a whisk or wooden spoon.
3. Place the pan either on top of a stovetop or an alcohol burner over low heat.
4. Cook the mixture until the sugar dissolves completely, stirring constantly to avoid burning
5. Pour in the banana liqueur into the pan and stir.
6. Place the banana quarters into the liqueur and cook them until they soften and begin to brown.
7. Carefully pour in the rum and cook the sauce until it is heated through.
8. Gently tip the pan slightly over the flame to ignite the rum. Or use a long matchstick. (Be careful with the flambé and don’t do it underneath a wooden overhead.
9. When the flames blow out, let the bananas sit in the pan.
10. Meanwhile, spoon one scoop of ice cream into a bowl.
11. Add the 4 banana quarters on top of each portion of ice cream.
12. Spoon a liberal amount of the liqueur sauce over the ice cream and serve immediately.

Trivia

• Banana foster was invented by Chef Paul Blangé in 1951 as an answer to a challenge put forward by Owen Edward Brennan to include bananas in a new dessert dish. The dish was then named after Richard Foster, owner of the Foster Awning Company, who was a friend of Owen and served with him on the New Orleans Crime Commission.

Did you know that the modern take on flambéing became popular in the 19^th century? It became well known from an English Christmas Pudding described in one of Charles Dickens’s novels in 1843.