FROM BANOFFI TO VANOFFI

While at home in Darjeeling this past month, I happened to go through an old copy of Reader’s Digest which had an article about the Banoffi Pie. I hadn't heard of it but after reading about its story I have tried making it myself and can vouch for its very high ‘YUM’ factor. It is great because it is chewy, chunchy, soft & sticky all at the same time.

Credit for the pie's invention is claimed by Ian Dowding and Nigel Mackenzie of The Hungry Monk restaurant in Jevington, East Sussex. They claim to have invented - or "evolved" - the pie in 1972, and the restaurant's exterior bears a blue 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

At the Hungry Monk which is a 14th-century property built for monks, the Banoffi Pie (originally known as Banoffee Pie), is still as popular today as it was the first time it appeared on the menu. There have been many imitations as far and wide as Russia and the United States; it is even rumored to be Mrs Thatcher's favourite pudding!

This is the Hungry Monk’s Chef (and original ‘inventor’) Ian Dowding’s story in his own words and after that I have attached my easy version of the pie.

The Completely True and Utter Story of Banoffi Pie by Ian Dowding

It's not as if I’d discovered the double helix or cold fusion, but it has been a phenomenon that this simple pudding has become world famous. I don’t talk about it much these days in case I sound like one of those old rock stars who only ever had one hit and insists on telling everybody at every opportunity. But if I’m asked I usually say this, which I happen to believe is true: Nobody ever invents dishes - they evolve. It may be a bit more mundane than most people think but I’d like to put the record straight . This then is how it happened. In the late 1960’s there were the seeds of a food revolution sprouting. Foreign travel and Elizabeth David were getting through to the British public that there was more to food than boiled beef and plum duff. I had completed a two year catering course at Swindon college, reasonably competently and had got a job at a small restaurant in Berkshire as an assistant sous chef. Actually there were only two chefs so I was also first commis, last commis and kitchen skivvy.

Russell used to do all the important things like main courses, pates and patisserie - I did all the rest. Russell had his secret recipes one of which was a dessert he had brought back from America called 'Blum’s Coffee Toffee Pie'. However it was no secret that it rarely worked. The toffee was made by boiling sugar, butter and cream together to produce a smooth, thick toffee which was poured into a pastry case and topped with coffee flavoured whipped cream. Sometimes it didn’t set at all, other times it dried like concrete. The tantrums Russell threw when it didn’t work schooled me well in the art of profanity if nothing else.

I moved on to a head chef’s job at a small restaurant just opening in Sussex. I took all Russell’s secret recipes with me but quietly forgot about BCT pie as it was known in kitchen chit abbreviation (the BC standing for something else entirely). When I say head chef what I really mean is the only chef - so I now got to do the main courses along with everything else. This was the early seventies and the food revolution was in full swing. There was more to life even than Prawn Cocktail and Steak Garni. I was encouraged to get inventive so ratatouille, taramasalata and moussaka appeared on my menus. Then in a conversation with my sister she told me about boiling cans of condensed milk unopened in water for several hours which produced a soft toffee. A light bulb lit up in my head - I would resurrect BCT pie. The owner of this restaurant, a Mr Nigel Mackenzie, was never one to let me bask in the light of inventive glory for long. The words ‘surely we can make this even better’ still ring in my ears today. He decided that it required something else, a new dimension, a bit of a tweak here and there. We tried some different variations, some were OK, some were downright disgusting, but I have to say that the day we made it with a layer of bananas we knew we had a hit on our hands.

Now of course it couldn’t be called BCT any more and Nigel came up with the word ‘Banoffi’. We thought it was incredibly silly but this was in the days when ‘Lucy Moxon’s Lemon Posset’ and ‘Tipsy Pudding’ were common menu parlance. Without that name we would not have been able to trace the rise in popularity of this concoction. It started by feedback from customers who rang to book and to check that it was still on the menu so it got to the point when we couldn’t take it off . Within a couple of years I began to see it on a lot of menus of other restaurants, (chefs always check out menus wherever they are - you can read a lot more than just food from a menu). People we knew coming back from abroad reported seeing it on menus in Australia and America and there were even stories of it being served at No 10 and Buckingham Palace. That was a long time ago and now every supermarket has a version and there are Banoffi ice creams, biscuits, chocolates and sundry other items - and no, we have never made a penny from it. Even if one of us had been canny enough to trade mark the name, and besides any firm wanting to use the idea would have just thought up another name. You can’t get a royalty from an invented dish, although I can’t see that it would be any more unenforceable or complicated than in the music business. But that is not the point, I just don’t mind. OK it would be nice to get a penny for every Banoffi made world wide. I don’t even mind that I won’t be remembered I just like the fact that many years hence someone somewhere will be making a Banoffi pie. Anyway I didn't invent it - it evolved. Nigel Mackenzie eventually had a blue plaque made to go on the outside of the restaurant saying Banoffi pie was invented there and when asked, usually tells a different story every time about how it came about, probably out of the boredom of repetition. My favourite is the one about how a can of condensed milk accidentally fell into a stock pot one day - bless him.

The Vishal Version of the Banoffi Pie

(which logically should be now called the Vanoffi Pie)

To serve 8-10 you will need:
250gms Digestive Biscuits (some say Marie biscuits but this works better I feel and i've tried both so just take my word for it)
3 tbsp melted butter (salted makes the pie more balanced)
1 tin condensed milk
3-4 large Bananas
250 ml cream (plain, unsweetened cream or else it becomes too sweet)
Chocolate scrapings for garnish (dark chocolate works best)

Preparation:
Put biscuits in a plastic bag and crumble with a rolling pin (or anything hard) till it’s a coarse powder. Add melted butter and mix well.
In a tray, make a layer of this mixture and press down firmly with the back of a spoon. This is your pie base. Refrigerate for 15 min to set.

Now the secret of this delicious pie lies in the condensed milk.
Immerse the can (unopened) in pan of boiling water. Cover and boil for 3 hours making sure the pan does not boil dry (see CAUTION below). Remove the tin from the water and allow to cool completely before opening. Inside you will find the soft chewy toffee filling.

Method:
Whip the cream until thick and smooth. Peel and slice the bananas and lay them on the biscuit mixture. Now spread the toffee over the bananas. Return to the fridge for 20 min more and then spoon the cream onto the pie. Garnish with grated chocolate and serve chilled.

CAUTION:
It is absolutely vital to top the water frequently while boiling the can. 3 hours is a long time and if it is allowed to boil dry, the cans can explode causing you to forget about the pie and concentrate on renovating your kitchen and maybe even your limbs.

BTW: The toffee mixture stays indefinitely in your cupboard unopened so its best to boil several cans at a time.

I hope you enjoy and think of me when you feel it melt in your mouths.

Enjoy

Vish