Banoffee pie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banoffee pie is a dessert made from biscuits, bananas, butter, cream and boiled condensed milk (or dulce de leche). Its name is a portmanteau constructed from the words "banana" and "toffee".
[edit] History
Inventorship of the pie is claimed by Ian Dowding and Nigel Mackenzie of The Hungry Monk restaurant in Jevington, East Sussex. They claim to have invented the pie in 1972, and the restaurant's exterior bears a plaque to that effect. The dish, with various stories of its source, spread, and in 1994 a number of supermarkets began selling it as an American pie, leading Dowding and Mackenzie to offer a £10,000 prize to anyone who could disprove their claim. [1]
The traditional way of preparing the condensed milk is to boil the unopened can for 3-5 hours to produce toffee, though this can be extremely dangerous as if the water evaporates the can may explode.
There is some discussion over the best spelling for the pie's name, The Hungry Monk preferring "banoffi" over the more logical "banoffee" (to correspond with "toffee"). "Banoffy" is also sometimes used.
Banoffee pie was one of the favourite puddings of Margaret Thatcher and Princess Diana[citation needed] and is reputed to be the most popular 'named' pudding in the world[citation needed]. In almost all cases it is made with Nestle's condensed milk: indeed, Nestle printed a recipe for it on the side of the tin.
The recipe was originally revealed in 'The Deeper Secrets of the Hungry Monk' in 1974 (now out of print). The recipe was reprinted in the Hungry Monk's later cookbook 'In Heaven with the Hungry Monk' (1997).
[edit] External links
- "The Completely True and Utter Story of Banoffi Pie" from Ian Dowding's website
- Original recipe at the Hungry Monk site
- Recipe from Waitrose
- Recipe from Nestlé
