Tableside Bananas Foster
Chapter 5: Cocktails & Desserts
This is the closer. You have just finished a dry-aged USDA Prime porterhouse and mopped up the last of the creamed spinach. This is not the time for a palate-cleansing sorbet. Invented at Brennan’s in New Orleans and quickly co-opted by the great mid-century American steakhouses, Bananas Foster is pure, high-octane theater. It is a primal spectacle of fire, butter, and booze that relies on the thermal mass of a cast-iron skillet and a healthy respect for combustion. Do not skip the banana liqueur, do not use cheap rum, and absolutely do not fear the butter.
Before you start
Treat this like a restaurant service and build your mise en place.
Once the butter hits the hot cast iron, you cannot walk away to dig through your pantry for cinnamon. Everything must be staged at the stove.
Ingredients
- firm-ripe bananas4 med
- unsalted butter1/4 cup
- dark brown sugar1 cup
- ground cinnamon1/2 tsp
- banana liqueur1/4 cup
- dark rum1/4 cup
- kosher salt1 pinch
- vanilla bean ice cream1 pt
- toasted walnuts1/4 cup
Method
- 01
Pre-scoop your ice cream into four chilled, shallow bowls and keep them in the freezer.
Tableside flambé happens in real-time. Place your peeled and quartered bananas, rum, liqueur, sugar, butter, and a long-handled butane lighter right next to the stove before you begin.
- 02
Melt the butter in a 10-inch or 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat, then whisk in the dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and kosher salt.
Stir continuously with a wooden spoon for 3 to 4 minutes until the sugar fully dissolves into the butter, creating a thick, bubbling, homogeneous caramel. If it looks broken or grainy, your heat is too low or you haven't stirred enough.
- 03
Pour in the banana liqueur to incorporate, then carefully lay the banana pieces into the bubbling caramel, cut-side down.
Let them cook undisturbed for exactly 1 to 2 minutes to undergo a brief Maillard reaction without turning the fruit to mush. Gently flip the bananas with tongs, bathe them in the sauce for 1 more minute, and scatter in the nuts if using.
- 04
Turn off the heat entirely before pouring the dark rum into the skillet, then carefully ignite the vapors with a long lighter.
Never pour high-proof alcohol from a bottle near an open flame. Once ignited, sprinkle an extra pinch of dry cinnamon directly over the blue and yellow flames for a crackling firework effect. Shake the pan gently, basting the bananas until the harsh ethanol burns off and the flame naturally dies out in 30 to 45 seconds.
- 05
Immediately pull your bowls from the freezer and arrange four warm, caramel-slicked banana pieces around each scoop of ice cream.
Generously drape the remaining hot butter-rum sauce over the top of the ice cream. The extreme temperature contrast between the freezing dairy and the molten, boozy caramel is the tactile core of the dish.
Notes
Do not compromise on the bananas.
You want yellow skins with a light speckling of brown sugar spots. If they are entirely brown and soft, make banana bread; they will disintegrate under the intense heat of the cast iron.
Respect the flambé.
If you want a massive, ceiling-threatening flame, a 151-proof rum can be utilized, but it demands extreme caution. Standard dark rums like Myers's or Gosling's provide plenty of spectacle and superior molasses flavor.