Bananas Foster – The Devil’s handiwork

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I recently got the hankering for making some Bananas Foster for my family.  I had seen the dessert highlighted on one of those food shows on tv and it looked pretty straight forward to make.

In fact, here is the recipe:

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.

As I looked over the recipe I noticed two ingredients that I don’t carry in my pantry… Rum and Banana Liqueur.  So the only way I was going to be able to make an authentic Bananas Foster for my family was to make a visit to the local store’s aisle of devil water.

What a quandary. I don’t drink.. not because of religious convictions but more out of the practicality of avoiding the issues that drinking can cause.  Plus it is expensive and I don’t care for the idea of being out of control of my senses…even a little bit.  That is not what caused the quandary though.  Just about every church that I have ever attended has taught against drinking whether calling it a sin or admonishing the members to hold a good witness by abstaining.  I don’t exactly adhere to either of those teachings as the first is contradictory and the second creates a legalistic position based on a moralistic appearance of righteousness.  And though I wasn’t going to be drinking the stuff and I don’t adhere to those teachings, I still had reservations about publicly buying alcohol to make a dessert.

So a couple of questions for you readers:  What would a good Christian do?  And why?

• Would they buy the alcohol and make Bananas Foster?
• Would they make Bananas Foster without the alcohol and use a non-alcoholic banana flavoring in its stead?
• Would they just steer clear of Bananas Foster completely to remove any hint of possible witness issues?

Just to throw another wrench into the works – what about the use of Nyquil or other medicines that contain alcohol?

Also, so that you know how I proceeded on this position, the above recipe was delicious… the whole family loved it.