Bananas Foster

Bananas were not introduced to North America after the Civil War and some decades later, when widespread consumption took hold, New Orleans became a major center for banana imports from Central and South America.In 1951, Brennan’s owner Owen Brennan (the uncle of Ralph Brennan, the 3rd generation restaurateur and now-owner of Brennan’s restaurant today) asked his chef Paul Blangé and sister Ella to come up with a new dessert using bananas to name after his friend Richard Foster, the chairman of the New Orleans Crime Commission. At the time, Owen’s younger brother John (Ralph Brennan’s father,) was running “Brennan’s Processed Potato Company,” a produce company that had a surplus of bananas. What they came up with is now the world renowned Bananas Foster.The dramatic, flambéed result is now the most-ordered item on Brennan's menu. Thirty-five thousand pounds of bananas are sautéed each year in South American rum (but of course!) in preparation of the signature dessert.Recipe courtesy of Brennan's Restaurant