Pudding Sauces

Filed among the pudding sauces, this is really a dish in its own right — the "sauce for six" is the butter, lemon and sugar syrup that bastes the fruit. The original assumes you already have a dish of bananas prepared and waiting.

• The missing ingredientNo quantity of bananas is given, because the recipe is written as a sauce. For six servings, count on six firm bananas, peeled and either left whole or split lengthwise in a shallow buttered baking dish.
• A slow ovenThe book gives no figure; a slow oven of the period is usually taken as somewhere around 250-325F. At the lower end of that range twenty minutes will soften the fruit and reduce the syrup; in a hotter oven the sugar is more likely to catch at the edges of the dish before the bananas are through.
• Half now, half laterThe recipe divides the syrup, half poured over at the start and the rest used to baste. The likely effect is that the first half soaks in as the fruit heats while the second glazes it.
• Ripeness matters more than timingUse bananas that are yellow with a few flecks but still firm. Fully spotted fruit turns to paste in twenty minutes; green fruit stays starchy and chalky no matter how long it bakes.
• Melted butterWith only two tablespoons, very cold lemon juice can chill the butter so that it sets into beads of fat rather than pouring evenly. Combining the two off the heat, with the juice not straight from the cold, keeps the syrup smooth.
• ServingSix servings, one banana each, served hot with cream, a plain custard, or as an accompaniment to baked ham or roast pork. The syrup left in the dish should be spooned over.