From: Daniel Brown <Daniel.Brown@...> Subject: Historical Banoffee To: banoffee@... Dear Steve, In the interests of historical accuracy (and to while away the last few minutes of a somewhat poor quality Friday afternoon), here's a snippet from the Daily Telegraph that lays claim to the Banoffee god-head, if such can be envisaged... Enjoy, Dan.
A bizarre culinary dispute has arisen over the provenance of one of the staples of young middle-class dinner parties : Banoffi pie. A Sussex restaurateur is so whisked up that he is offering £10,000 to anyone that can find a reference to the banana, toffee and coffee pie that pre-dates his "invention" of it in 1971.
Nigel Mackenzie, of the Hungry Monk restaurant in Jevington, near Eastbourne, is cross that certain supermarkets describe the sticky pudding as American. A plaque outside his restaurant claims that it was invented there - originally as a stop-gap item on the menu one night.
Mackenzie yesterday succeeded in extracting an apology from one supermarket chain, Marks and Spencer. A spokesman explained that the mother of an employee used to make it from a cook book written by Mackenzie. "We just called it American because it fits with the rest of the range." "It's terribly galling", says Mackenzie, who has been left regretting the fact that he did not patent the pudding. For the record, he rates the M&S pie as "outstanding", Safeway's as "so,so" and the Tesco version as "disgusting".
For the genuine article immerse 1 large tin of condensed milk in boiling water, and boil for five hours. Leave to cool and whip ¾ pint of cream with 1tsp sugar and ½tsp instant coffee powder until thick and smooth.
Spread contents of the can - it should be caramelized - over a baked shortcrust flan base and lay 1.5lbs halved bananas on top.
Spoon on the cream, sprinkle with coffee powder. Serves 8-10.
From the Daily Telegraph (Peterborough) 5-5-1994.