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CONTESTANT SCORECARD
Elimination Challenge Wins: 2/10
Quick Fire Challenge Wins: 4/10
Status:
WINNER OF TOP CHEF SEASON 3!
Banana Bread
Source: Stephanie Izard, Top Chef Season 4
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Banana Bread with Salted Caramel Sauce & Meringue
Prep Time: one hour and 30 minutes
Serves: 6-8
Directions:
Cake:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer, cream together butter and sugar; then add in bananas and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and slowly add to batter. Mix to combine. Butter or pan spray in 9x9 inch pan. Bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when tested.
Caramel Sauce:
Place sugar, corn syrup and water in a stainless steel pot on high heat. Heat until caramel colored. Remove from heat and whisk in butter, then cream until sauce fizzes slightly. Let cool then add salt. Season until salt stands up to sweetness.
Caramel Meringue:
Put egg whites in mixer with whisk attachment. In a stainless steel pot, put sugar, water and corn syrup. Simultaneously place mixer on medium high and place pot on high atop stove. Continue with both until sugar is boiling and bubbles begin to thicken. Turn mixer to medium and in a steady and continuous slow stream, add sugar mixture to whites. Turn mixer up and whisk until cool and very stiff.
To serve, top cake with caramel, then meringue. Torch meringue to brown.
Ingredients:
Cake:
1/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3 ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups flour
Caramel Sauce:
1 cup sugar
1 T corn syrup
2 T water
1 T butter
1/4 cup cream
1 T salt (approximately)
Caramel Meringue:
4 egg whites, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1 T corn syrup
TOP CHEF
Season 4 - Chicago
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Comments
phyllis brown wrote:
I'm surprised at the amount of salt in the meringue. Why so much?
posted on March 23, 2008 at 4:35 AM
Freddy wrote:
Great recipe - didn't see what to do with the heavy cream so I just mixed it in at the end of the caramel sauce. Didn't have any stainless steel pots so used glass pots and worked very well.
posted on March 23, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Linda Rayner wrote:
I found the batter to be much thicker than it appeared on TV. Should there be more liquid added?
posted on March 27, 2008 at 3:03 PM
JC Gregg wrote:
What an explosion of flavor. The salt really makes the dish and cuts the "sweetness". This will be served at my next dessert party and I am sure it will be the highlight of the non-chocolate desserts. Thanks!
posted on March 27, 2008 at 6:06 PM
Sandy wrote:
What does one do if they don't own a blow torch???
SandyC~
posted on April 2, 2008 at 9:56 PM
EO wrote:
This bread is amazing. I added some of my favorite ingredients about a 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon. It is now a common dessert in my home. I did not use a blow torch and it turned out fine.
posted on April 12, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Princess Sarah wrote:
I made this without the carmal sauce and meringue just to see how the bread would come out. I actually accidently used a whole stick of butter, but the taste was still amazing!! This is a great banana bread recipe. Everyone that's tried it has loved it. Next time I'll try it with the sauce and meringue. Thanks Stephanie! You go girl!
posted on April 17, 2008 at 7:24 PM
Kathy Neff wrote:
if you don't have a torch put in under the broiler
posted on April 20, 2008 at 11:23 AM
carol wrote:
williams sonoma sells small torches just for this sort of thing..also useful for creme brulee....
posted on May 9, 2008 at 5:00 AM
Dallas wrote:
Tried this out and loved it! Bread was actually more of a cake density but very moist. I added 1 T cinnamon to the batter and sprinkled some on top and loved it. I would cut the flour to 1 3/4 next time, though. I also used dark corn syrup for the caramel and it was very tasty. I didn't try the meringue b/c of time, but a banana slice on top was a nice garnish. Definite hit!
posted on June 10, 2008 at 11:41 AM