Behold the Banana. The popular fruit is high in potassium and fiber, which helps support heart and digestive health, and is fat-free and roughly 75% water. Growing upward against gravity toward the sun from the world’s largest herbaceous flowering plant, it is that growth pattern that causes their characteristic curve, the shape like a smile.
And it is the yellow variety that is the star of the show every day at Brennan’s restaurant, a classic dining spot in the heart of the French Quarter on Royal Street. The stage is the well-known and the legendary dish Bananas Foster is celebrating its introduction to adoring diners 75 years ago.
Bananas were first introduced to the United States at the 1876 World’s Fair in Philadelphia, and the fruit quickly gained popularity across the country. By 1899, Sicilian immigrants were importing bananas from Honduras to be sold in the French Market. Soon, New Orleans became one of the largest importers of bananas in the United States.
In 1951, with ever an eye for publicity and the promotion of his city, premier BY MARY BETH ROMIG proprietor of Brennan’s New Orleans, Owen E. Brennan, Ralph Brennan’s uncle, challenged Chef de Cuisine Paul Blangé to develop a dish featuring the beloved fruit that was in abundance in the city’s markets. Then Ella Brennan, Owen’s sister, took charge as the team was rushed to create a special dessert that evening for Richard Foster, a friend of Owen Brennan and the chairman of the New Orleans Crime Commission, on which Brennan served.
Ella had memories of her mother brûléeing bananas for breakfast, drawing upon this, she added in rum to make a tableside flaming masterpiece, and topped it off with vanilla ice-cream. Bananas Foster was born! Ella, Blangé, and a dining room captain prepared the now popular household recipe, Bananas Foster, which has been recreated by many famous chefs and epicurean institutions worldwide.
In the French Quarter’s Brennan’s restaurant, the smell of caramelizing brown sugar and butter permeates the dining room as Bananas Foster is made tableside. The bubbling melted sugar and butter is topped with fresh sliced bananas as the sauce continues to thicken, then the dish gets a shot of rum and banana liqueur for a quick flambé. The dramatic dessert has nearby tables all watching the action, and cellphones are out to capture pictures and videos.
It is a dish that originated at Brennan’s that no other culinary institution can claim. It’s a classic New Orleans dessert that was created at Brennan’s Vieux Carré on Bourbon Street [the original restaurant location] and continues today at Brennan’s on Royal Street.
It is the most-ordered dish on Brennan’s menu, and it is not unusual for guests who have dined elsewhere to arrive just for a bowl of the famous Bananas Foster.
FACTOID: On average, 18 thousand Bananas Foster desserts are sold each year, and over 35 thousand pounds of bananas are used per year just for the iconic dessert.
By: Mary Beth Romig