Baked Bananas Part II
After my less-than-successful attempt to prepare a 1953 baked bananas recipe last month, several readers offered advice for achieving better results. Suggestions included broiling the bananas,using plantains rather than sweet bananas; and creating the sauce simply by baking the brown sugar and butter with the bananas, rather than pre-caramelizing it.
One reader specifically recommended a baked plantain recipe from another cookbook in our collection: La Cocina Familiar En El Estado De Guerrero. I decided to try two versions of this recipe–one with plantains and one with bananas.
Plátanos al Horno
5 plátanos machos
100 g. mantequilla
1 taza de azúcar
- Pelar los plátanos y cortarlos en rebanadas finas; colocarlas en capas en un recipiente refractario.
- Añadir trocitos de mantequilla y espolvorear azúcar sobre cada capa.
- Hornear a 200 °C durante quince minutos.
- Rinde 6 raciones
Receta de Amalia Avilés Orozco
Baked Plantains/Bananas
5 plantains or bananas
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
- Peel the plantains and cut into thin strips. Layer the strips in a baking dish, adding bits of butter and sprinkling sugar over each layer as you go.
- Bake at 390* for 15 minutes.
- Serves 6.
Recipe from Amalia Avilés Orozco
In the Kitchen…
I prepared two versions of this dish–one with plantains and one with bananas. In each case, I used brown sugar, so as to more closely replicate the “caramel” flavor of my previous attempt and baked them together at just below 400* F.
To my great surprise, this time I had no problems with the fruit blackening or becoming mushy in either the plantain or banana version. Since I doubt that the caramelized sugar caused the problem, my best guess is that the metal baking dish I used last time may have reacted strangely with the fruit or sugar, though I will have to carry out another experiment to confirm that!
Both versions of this recipe were tasty and I recommend them. Admittedly, the plantains were a little rubbery for my taste, but the bananas were absolutely delicious served over vanilla ice cream.
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