By Chef Alben Parsley
Businessman by Day... Aspiring Chef When the Mood Hits Him

Step 1. Combine the bananas, butter, sugar and cinnamon in a flambé pan or skillet. Place the pan over low heat either on an alcohol burner or on top of the stove.

A trip to New Orleans is about tradition. Whether it’s a Hurricane at Pat O’Brien’s, a live jazz performance at Preservation Hall or a stroll around Jackson Square, there are some things you just have to do. Tops among these for me is breakfast at Brennan’s.

Brennan’s stands as one of New Orleans’ elite restaurants and is probably the most famous restaurant in the world for breakfast. Its classic building on Royal Street, replete with a traditional New Orleans courtyard, seems as if it has been there since the days of pirate Jean Lafitte.

Step 2. Cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

In actuality, Brennan’s has been in its current location a mere 50 years. The restaurant resided on Bourbon Street for 10 years prior to that.

Owen Brennan, founder and consummate New Orleans showman, determined that the best way to move a restaurant would be to close after breakfast at the old location, move and open for lunch at the new location.

That plan got sidetracked early, as Brennan died several months prior to the opening date. The Brennan family, no stranger to adversity, decided to press on without their patriarch and open as scheduled.

Step 3. Stir in the banana liqueur. When the banana sections soften and begin to brown, carefully add the rum.

Being a New Orleans institution has its advantages. Local legend has it that on the day of the move, the entire community decided to guarantee the success of the new restaurant venture. Throughout a morning of persistent rain, Brennan’s customers, friends and the elite of New Orleans showed up to help move the restaurant a block south to its new location. A jazz marching band led the move, and the party has been going ever since.

Today, Brennan’s is all about decedent food and impeccable service. One of the most appealing aspects of the restaurant is that the dishes seem impossible to make. The poached egg concoctions are as much art as food. Even if you could prepare the exquisite Eggs Hussarde at home, who has that kind of time to cook breakfast?

Step 4. Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot.

Rather ironically, the most famous Brennan’s dish is probably the easiest to make at home. Bananas Foster is the same six-ingredient, five-minute dessert that Chef Paul Blange created in 1951.

Step 5. Tip the pan slightly to ignite the rum.

Here are the ingredients:

¼ cup (½ stick) butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup banana liqueur
4 bananas, cut in half lengthwise, then halved
¼ cup dark rum
4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Then just follow the easy six steps shown on this page.

Step 6. When the flames subside, lift the bananas out of the pan and place four pieces over each portion of ice cream. Generously spoon warm sauce over the top of the ice cream and serve immediately.

The key to making this simple dish look extravagant is the flambé. For some reason, everyone loves the danger of a flaming dessert. The only trick is that to make a really good flambé, you have to have a hot skillet. If you flambé prematurely, the whole thing will just peter out and your guests will be left unfulfilled.

My advice: Keep a fire extinguisher close by, just in case.

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