ISO help w/Bananas Foster

[julesthegolfer]

Just returned from New Orleans where I had a wonderful bananas foster at The Palace. It looked easy enough. I got the recipe but it was a disaster!! The brown sugar never really melted but turned into a glump which solidified into a cement-like substance. Help!! What I am doing wrong?? It also never flamed. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[merstar]

This is the recipe I have on file (haven't tried it yet, but other people have, with success). Does your recipe look similar to this?
Bananas Foster Recipe | Brennan's Restaurant

 

[Andy M.]

You may have cooked the butter and sugar over higher heat and for longer than appropriate. I have a recipe from Brennan's that calls for stirring constantly over low heat until the sugar dissolves.

If you cooked the mixture with the rum for too long before trying to flambé, some of the alcohol will have cooked off making it too weak to ignite.

This is a quick dish. You should not be cooking for long periods.

Edited to add: Same recipe as what merstar posted.

 

[julesthegolfer]

Brennans

Yes, it was the Brennans recipe. I cooked the butter and sugar on low for awhile and nothing much happened so turned up the heat. Still not much happened so I added a bit more butter. The sugar just never melted.

 

[Andy M.]

Did you use real butter?

 

[julesthegolfer]

Yes, I did use real butter. I looked at other recipes after my post and saw one by Paula Deen that used 2 parts butter to one part brown sugar whereas the Brennan's recipe had 1 part butter to 4 parts brown sugar. None of the review of Paula's recipe were negative or had the problems I had, so next time I will try her proportions. They make more sense. Brennan's just had too much sugar for the amount of butter I think.

 

[Andy M.]

...Brennan's just had too much sugar for the amount of butter I think.

Give Deen's recipe a try. But keep in mind that Brennan's invented the dish and have been making it this way for decades.