Banoffee pie
 A slice of banoffee pie served with ice cream | |
| Type | Pie |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Region or state | Jevington, East Sussex |
| Created by | Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding |
| Main ingredients | pastry base or crumbled biscuits, butter, bananas, cream, toffee |
Banoffee pie is an English dessert pie made from bananas, cream and toffee from boiled condensed milk (or dulce de leche), either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter. Some versions of the recipe also include chocolate, coffee or both.
Its name is a portmanteau constructed from the words "banana" and "toffee."[1] It is sometimes spelled "banoffi".
History
Credit for the pie's invention is claimed by Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding, the owner and chef respectively of The Hungry Monk Restaurant in Jevington, East Sussex. They claim to have developed the dessert in 1971 by amending an unreliable American recipe for "Blum’s Coffee Toffee Pie" with a soft toffee made by boiling an unopened can of condensed milk for several hours. After trying various changes including the addition of apple or mandarin orange, Mackenzie suggested banana and Dowding later said that "straight away we knew we had got it right". Mackenzie suggested the name "Banoffi Pie", and the dish proved so popular with their customers that they "couldn't take it off" the menu.[2]
The recipe was published in The Deeper Secrets of the Hungry Monk in 1974, and reprinted in the 1997 cookbook In Heaven with The Hungry Monk. Dowding has stated that his "pet hates are biscuit crumb bases and that horrible cream in aerosols".[3] It was Margaret Thatcher's favourite food to cook.[4]
The recipe was adopted by many other restaurants throughout the world.[2] In 1984, a number of supermarkets began selling it as an American pie, leading Nigel Mackenzie to offer a £10,000 prize to anyone who could disprove their claim to be the English inventors.[5]
The word "Banoffee" entered the English language and became used to describe any food or product that tastes or smells of both banana and toffee.[1] A recipe for the pie, using a biscuit crumb base, is often printed on tins of Nestlé's condensed milk.
Mackenzie died from cancer on 29 May 2015 at the age of 71.[6]
See also
References
- ^ a b "The Free Dictionary Online". Farlax. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
- ^ a b "The Completely True and Utter Story of Banoffi Pie". Ian Dowding. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
- ^ Cloake, Felicity (26 June 2013). "How to make the perfect banoffee pie". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
- ^ The Celebrity Cookbook: Kitchen Secrets of the Rich and Famous; Brooks, Marla (1993)
- ^ "Daily Telegraph article about Banoffee Pie reward". Banoffee.co.uk. 5 May 1994. Archived from the original on 20 June 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11746921/Nigel-Mackenzie-restaurateur-obituary.html
