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Baked Bananas with Honey
6 bananas 2 tablespoons shortening, melted 3 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons lemon juice Peel bananas and cut in halves lengthwise. Put in shallow greased pan. Spread with honey, shortening, then lemon juice and bake in a slow oven for 20 minutes. Baste occasionally with the sauce. Serves 6.
A straightforward baked fruit dish that needs only a few clarifications on heat and fat.
- Oven temperatureA slow oven in this period means about 300-325F. At that heat 20 minutes is enough to soften the bananas without collapsing them; check at 15 minutes if they are very ripe.
- ShorteningIn this period 'shortening' could mean solid vegetable shortening, lard, or butter, melted. Butter gives a better flavour here and browns the cut faces; use 2 tablespoons melted.
- Choosing the fruitUse bananas that are yellow and just barely speckled. Fully spotted fruit turns to puree in the pan, and green-tipped fruit stays starchy and slightly astringent even after baking.
- Order of layeringFollow the sequence as written: honey, then fat, then lemon juice. The honey clings to the cut surface, the fat seals it, and the acid goes on last so it does not simply run off into the pan.
- Pan sizeUse a dish that holds the twelve halves in a single layer, cut side up, with little spare room. In a large pan the syrup spreads thin and scorches before there is anything to baste with.
- BastingThere is not much liquid, so tilt the pan and spoon the syrup back over the fruit two or three times. Do not turn the halves; they break.
- ServingServes six as a dessert or a side with ham or roast pork. Best warm rather than hot, when the honey has thickened again but the fruit still holds its shape.