Spirited cookery is a favorite of mine. I’ve made a few mistakes. I remember my friend and I making dinner for our boyfriends. We wanted to impress them so we decided to make something to flame. Two Home Ec. majors and we failed to heat the liqueur so it would be hot enough to flame. First try–didn’t flame so we stirred it in. Second try– still didn’t flame so we stirred that it. On the third try it didn’t flame. What the heck, we will serve it anyway. My husband says he got drunk on eating chicken! And it tasted horrible with all that brandy stirred in.
Not to be defeated, I went on to Cherries Jubilee and when they made Bananas Flambe” table-side at Culinary School, I knew I had to make it at the local Charity Ball. It was a hit and very impressive. I always included the recipe at my couples cooking lessons. The men loved flaming it. Guess they always love playing with fire. Don’t be intimidated, it is a easy recipe and worth the try. Enjoy!
Couples Cooking Class Have all supplies ready Great for dinner party A little help from my friend Flaming is the best part Show confidence Ready to serve over ice cream or pound cake, Yum!

Banana Flambe’
Equipment
- medium skillet
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 bananas peeled, cut in half crosswise, then cut in half lengthwise
- 1/4 cup rum
- 1/4 cup banana liquer
Instructions
- Prep all ingredients. Place a medium skillet over medium heat. Add butter and sugar stirring until caramelized. Add bananas and coat with caramel. Remove skillet from flame and add rum away from flame, return to heat tilting pan slightly to flambe'. Let the flames die down. Lower flame, remove pan from heat. Add banana liqueur and return to heat. Cook slightly to reduce sauce. Serve bananas over vanilla ice cream or pound cake and nappe' with sauce.
Notes
- Store liqueurs away from heat.
- Remove pan from heat before adding liqueur.
- Tilt pan gently towards flame to ignite, show confidence.
- Do not leave unattended
- Never pour liqueur in a flaming pan
- For an electric range, heat rum in a small saucepan over medium heat (do not boil). Quickly pour rum over banana mixture, and immediately ignite with a long match just above the liquid mixture to light the fumes (not the liquid itself).
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