Bananas Foster — New Orleans' flambéed rum-caramel bananas

i. Origin & history

Bananas Foster comes from Brennan's, the Royal Street restaurant founded by Owen Brennan in New Orleans. The restaurant's own account is that in 1951 Owen challenged his chef, Paul Blangé, and his sister Ella Brennan to come up with a new dessert featuring bananas. New Orleans was then one of the main ports through which bananas from Central and South America entered the United States, so the fruit was cheap and abundant in the city.

The dessert was named after Richard Foster, a friend of Owen Brennan and a prominent New Orleans civic figure, who chaired the city's crime commission. Brennan's became famous for its lavish 'breakfast at Brennan's', and bananas Foster — flamed at the table at the end of the meal — became its signature. The restaurant reports going through many thousands of kilos of bananas a year for it.

Tableside flambé was fashionable in grand American restaurants of the mid-twentieth century, alongside crêpes Suzette and cherries jubilee, and bananas Foster belongs to that tradition. It has outlasted most of them: it is still made in front of diners across New Orleans and has become one of the city's emblematic desserts, alongside beignets and bread pudding with whiskey sauce.

The correct name is bananas Foster, plural, and it is always written with a capital F because Foster is a surname. 'Banana Foster' is a common variant, and so are 'banana fosters' and 'bananas foster', but they all mean the same dish.

ii. What the flambé actually does

The flame is the theatre of bananas Foster, but it has a culinary point too. When warmed rum is added to the hot pan and ignited, the alcohol vapour above the sauce burns. That burns off much of the alcohol's harsh, raw edge and leaves behind the rum's molasses and spice flavours, while the heat of the flame briefly caramelises the sugar at the surface. Unflamed rum simply simmered in the sauce tastes sharper and more boozy.

It does not burn off all the alcohol. Studies of cooking with spirits suggest that a short flambé leaves a substantial proportion — often more than half — of the alcohol in the dish. Bananas Foster should therefore be treated as an alcoholic dessert, and a non-alcoholic version made for children.

The rum must be warm and of a decent strength to light. Standard 40% dark rum works; cold rum poured into a pan that is not hot enough will not ignite, and lower-strength spirits often will not either. Overproof rum lights very readily but flares dangerously high. The safe method is to take the pan off the heat, add the rum, return it to the heat for a few seconds to warm, then ignite it with a long match or lighter at the edge of the pan — never pour rum straight from the bottle into a pan near a flame, as the flame can travel up the stream.

The other skill is the sauce. Butter and brown sugar are cooked until the sugar dissolves into a smooth, bubbling caramel; the bananas go in only for a minute or two, so they soften and take on the sauce while still holding their shape. Overcooked bananas turn to mush and make the sauce cloudy and gluey.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 60 g unsalted butter
• 200 g soft light or dark brown sugar
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 60 ml banana liqueur (crème de banane)
• 4 ripe but firm bananas
• 60 ml dark rum (40% ABV)
• 4 generous scoops vanilla ice cream
• ⅛ tsp flaky salt, optional

This follows the Brennan's proportions. Choose bananas that are yellow with a few brown freckles — ripe enough to be sweet, but firm enough to hold their shape in the hot sauce; very spotty bananas collapse. Banana liqueur (crème de banane) deepens the banana flavour; if you have none, use extra rum or 2 tbsp orange juice. Dark rum gives the classic molasses note; spiced rum is a common modern swap. For a non-alcoholic version, replace the liqueur and rum with 80 ml apple or orange juice and ½ tsp rum or vanilla extract, and simply simmer instead of flaming. Use good, dense vanilla ice cream, as it is half of the dish.

iv. Method

1. Scoop the ice cream into four bowls and keep them in the freezer. Peel the bananas, cut them in half crossways, then halve each piece lengthways.
2. Melt the butter in a wide frying pan or flambé pan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon and stir for 2–3 minutes until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth, glossy and bubbling.
3. Stir in the banana liqueur — it will spit, so stand back — and simmer for 30 seconds until the sauce comes together.
4. Lay the bananas in the pan cut-side down and cook for 1 minute, then turn and cook for another minute, spooning sauce over them, until just softened and glazed.
5. Take the pan off the heat and pour in the rum. Return it to the heat for 5–10 seconds to warm the rum, then carefully ignite it at the edge of the pan with a long match or lighter, keeping your face and sleeves well back.
6. Tilt the pan gently and spoon the flaming sauce over the bananas until the flames die down, about 20–30 seconds. If they persist, cover the pan with a lid to put them out.
7. Divide the bananas between the bowls of ice cream, spoon over the hot sauce, add a pinch of flaky salt if you like, and serve at once.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Never pour from the bottle near a flame. Measure the rum into a jug first and add it with the pan off the heat. Fire can run back up a stream of spirit.
• Clear the area before lighting. Check there is nothing above the stove — extractor hoods, hanging towels — and keep a lid nearby to smother the flame if needed.
• Warm the rum before igniting. Cold rum in a cooling pan often refuses to light; a few seconds back on the heat is enough.
• Use firm bananas and cook them briefly. Two minutes is enough. Over-ripe or over-cooked bananas fall apart and thicken the sauce into paste.
• Let the sugar dissolve fully. Grainy caramel means the butter and sugar were not cooked long enough before the liquid went in.
• Have the ice cream ready. The contrast between the hot sauce and frozen ice cream is the point; plate the ice cream before you start cooking.

vi. Variations

Bananas Foster with pecans adds a handful of toasted pecans to the sauce, a common Southern touch. Bananas Foster bread pudding, French toast and cheesecake are New Orleans brunch-menu offshoots. Cherries jubilee is the older flambé cousin, made with cherries and kirsch or brandy over ice cream, and crêpes Suzette flames an orange-butter sauce with orange liqueur.

Bananas are cooked in caramel all over the world. The Philippines has turon — banana and jackfruit rolled in spring-roll wrappers and fried in caramelised sugar — and banana cue, skewered saba bananas coated in brown sugar. Indonesia has baked banana fritters, and Vietnam's bánh chuối bakes or steams bananas into a cake.

vii. Serving & storage

Bananas Foster is served immediately, in shallow bowls over vanilla ice cream, ideally with the flame performed in front of guests. In New Orleans it is as much a brunch dish as an after-dinner dessert, and it is also served over waffles, pancakes, French toast or frozen custard. A strong coffee — chicory coffee, in the New Orleans manner — balances the sweetness.

It does not keep well once made: the bananas soften and darken and the sauce sets firm as it cools. Leftover sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and gently reheated with a splash of water, then spooned over fresh bananas. Do not freeze the cooked bananas. To prepare ahead for a dinner party, measure all the ingredients, slice the bananas at the last minute, and the whole dish takes under ten minutes at the table.

ix. More from North American

• Frozen Custard — rich egg-yolk soft-serve
• Baked Alaska — ice cream in toasted meringue
• Frozen Banana — chocolate-dipped banana on a stick
• Turon — Filipino caramelised banana rolls
• Banana Cue — Filipino sugar-glazed bananas
• Bánh Chuối — Vietnamese banana cake