Why won't my bananas light on fire?
Matt asked:
I was making bananas foster, which requires me adding rum to my bananas and lighting them on fire. I poured 99 bananas and captain morgan in my skillet, but it wouldn't light. Anyone know what the problem might be? I followed the recipe I found online and added a pretty decent amount of liquor, yet it wouldn't light. Also, is this dangerous to do indoors on a stove? After I gave up on setting them on fire, I was told that the flame is actually pretty high and it is too dangerous of a dessert for the average person to try.
sporty, i did make the sauce, but i just forgot to mention that. shouldn't it have caught on fire no matter what was in the pan? i thought that as long as i poured alcohol in there it would light.
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Comments on Why won't my bananas light on fire?
Well it's not only banana's and alcohol. You need to make the sauce that goes in it too. Here's a good recipe to try.
Ingredients: – 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup banana liqueur
- 4 bananas, cut in half lengthwise, then halved
- 1/4 cup dark rum
- 4 scoops vanilla ice cream
Directions:
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.
Serves Four
use tequila or a better brandy
for a fire you need a high alcokhol content
maybe there were tooo many other juices and the alcohol was watered down
and you pour the brandy and light it the same seccond or it will evaporate
and you do it at the table and serve them burning
that is what my mother did
I knew a guy that made flaming coffees and he always said that flavored liquors were hard to light. Plus, most liquor is actually kind of hard to light and you need to use a little of something like 151 or everclear to get it started, then add other liquors to it. This is the best I can remember, though. It's been several years since I talked to this guy.
Be careful, and I would practice outside for a while until you are pretty confident that you're not going to blow your face off.
Is it possible that you could have heated it too long & burned off the alcohol? It doesn't take long for the rum to get hot.
Practice outside if you can. If not make sure you have a fire extinguisher close by.
Maybe they didn't light on fire because you didn't have a fire extinguisher, just in case. Good advice above, "make sure you have a fire extinguisher close by."Gina