I am taking a shortcut today. Life is busy so the post will
be short. I give you, in its slightly edited glory, some highlights in the form
of banana recipes from an article from the Times
of India of March 2, 1914.
Banana Porridge.
Mix one
tablespoonful of cornflour with a little cold milk, then pour over it one pint
of boiling milk and stir in six mashed bananas. Pour into a lined saucepan, add
sugar to taste, and boil for five minutes stirring all the time. Turn into
porridge plates and serve very hot.
Curried Bananas. – Soak one teacupful
of fresh or desiccated coco-nut in the same measure of milk for one hour. Peel
and cut into large cubes five fine bananas, fry these in butter; sprinkle with curry
powder, and remove on to a hot plate. Put thee soaked coconut and any milk that
has not been absorbed into the frying-pan, add a dash of cayenne pepper and
anchovy sauce, a teaspoonful of meat sauce, and mix well. Beat an egg, stir it
into the sauce, lay the curried bananas in the pan and cook until they are
thoroughly hot. The contents of the pan must not boil after the egg has been
added. Serve with the usual curry accompaniments of boiled Patna rice and
chutney.
Spinach and Bananas. – Wash two pounds
of spinach and cook for twenty minutes; then pass through a sieve. Add one
ounce of butter, season with pepper and salt, and pile in centre of an entree
dish. Peel four bananas, divide them into quarters, dip each piece in beaten
egg, then roll in fine breadcrumbs, flavoured with coralline pepper. Fry in
deep boiling fat and and arrange the golden brown fritters round the spinach
and serve.
Quotation for the Day.
I think nothing is more exquisite than beef
in Kummel, garnished with slices of banana stuffed with Gruyere or pureed
sardines with Camembert or whipped cream with tomato sprinkled with brandy or a
chicken with lily of the valley.
Chef Jules Maincave (1910)
Chef Jules Maincave (1910)
4 comments:
Two questions. What exactly is "meat sauce"? I can't imagine they mean beef soup base, or sauce bolognese. Worcestershire sauce isn't exactly meaty either. The other question is, I was raised to believe lily of the valley is a poisonous plant. Does the quote actually mean the spring flower, or something else?
My favourite banana recipe is from our camping days as kids. We would slice a banana lengthwise and stick squares of chocolate in the gap then wrap the banana in foil and bake it in the ashes of the camp fire. When it was done, you unwrapped the foil which served as a plate for a mouth watering dessert of heavenly baked banana pickled in chocolate. You can only cook this dish on the ashes. It never melts the same or tastes the same if cooked in an oven.
I'm going to have to go look for it, but I have a cooking institute cookbook from Chicago in the earl 1950's that offers a dish of bananas broiled with grated cheese.
(ick).
Thanks Shay, and sorry for the late response - I hereby resolve to try to respond to comments the same day ... Anyway, if you find that recipe, I would be most interested in seeing it (but not in cooking it!)
Post a Comment