A nicely caramelized banana with a touch of Caribbean flair is hard to resist! You’ll go banana over these Bananes flambées!
This dessert will make you “bananas”! You’ll want more and more until the explosion… ok, maybe not until the explosion, but close to it. This has been a personal favourite since I’m a kid. My dad used to make us “Bananes Flambées”; he was using “Grand Marnier” (an orange cognac) and his beautiful copper pan. He would only use his copper pan … for this particular dish. As a kid, it was always frightening to see those big flames going up, and after all that adrenaline, you would get to eat the tastiest reward!
History
This dish comes from New Orleans, USA, and is called Bananas Foster. The US version uses a banana liqueur before flaming it and some ice cream to accompany it. In the Caribbean, they master the art of Bananes Flambées; they usually use a little extra orange slice for cooking the bananas. Feel free to use a slice of orange or lemon. I add a little cinnamon, butter, rum and cane sugar only. That cane sugar is one of a kind. If you are lucky enough to have some, you can always replace it with brown sugar.
Cane Sugar
Cane sugar, on the other side, is way lighter in colour than brown sugar. It is made from crushed sugarcane and filled with minerals and antioxidants. It’s like a bite into raw sugar cane! Delicious!
Safety First
While flaming the bananas, take all the safety precautions. If you flame your bananas on the cooktop, turn off your range hoot. Otherwise, it will bring the flames into the ventilation pipes… which is dangerous. Also, make sure to pour the rum into a glass first and don’t let it come out directly from the bottle … if you do the flaming at the table like my dad used to do, then make sure the kids are at a safe distance, and nothing flammable is around the flames! So…
Variations
This dish is so simple, but many variations exist; some add nutmeg to it others use Cognac instead of rum. You could add some extra peanuts to get a lovely salty crunch. In France, they add these to crepes, some delicious stuff! So the world is wide open for your own interpretation of this dish.
Other Tropical Desserts
Let’s get our pyromania impulses to loosen up!
Bananes Flambees in Rum
Ingredients
- 3 bananas
- 40 g cane sugar (or brown sugar)
- 40 g butter
- 40 ml brown rum
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Cut the bananas in 2 (on the length).
- Melt butter in a deep enough pan, add the bananas.
- Add the cinnamon, vanilla extract, nutmeg and cane sugar on top of the bananas.
- Let cook at medium-high heat for 2 minutes on each side.
- Pour in the rum, set on fire and lightly shake until the flame disappears.
