A Timeline of Food

I know I've mentioned this before, but I love kottke.org. I'll even forgive him for a recent post when he got snarky (well, quoted someone else's snarkiness) about preserving the website whitehouse.gov before the change over. He shared this great timeline with his readers in early December and it's too good not to share.

The Food Timeline
Just remember, the foods we eat are not invented, they evolve. As OSG is fond of saying, how about the guy who decided that eggs were edible. "Hey that thing just came out of that chicken's ass, let's eat it!"

Here's a recipe I selected from the timeline. It is for Bananas Foster, which brings back memories of my father flambeing bananas after dinner on more than one occasion. The recipe is from Brennan's in New Orleans.

Bananas Foster

• 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
  

Combine the 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, and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the banana liqueur, then place the bananas in the pan. When the banana sections soften and begin to brown, carefully add the rum. Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot, then tip the pan slightly to ignite the rum. 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.