Dan Koeppel's Blog

Just two weeks ago, I lamented that this possibly-magical product wasn’t available near my Los Angeles home. It still isn’t, but it was in lovely Tilton, New Hampshire. Below is a video review.

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The New York Times has been very kind to me, but one has to say that a banana split where:

There’s no strawberry, pineapple, or chocolate sauce.
There’s something called “ganache.”
There are no nuts.
The dish is not “boat” shaped.
AND ICE CREAM IS FREAKIN’ OPTIONAL!!!!

has to be a bunch of hooey and snobbery. Get it together. Really.
Here’s NYT’s [...]

Got this at a Philippine grocery a few blocks from my house in Los Angeles. Price: $1.59. The lady behind the counter called it "banana ketchup," and that's pretty much what it is, with the same basic ingredients – sugar, vinegar, salt, and spices – as the tomato stuff, but with bananas substituted for the [...]

Homemade banana ice cream sammiches, Image from chubbyhubby.net
We don’t have to sit by while the “Morning Banana Diet” marches across the planet, raising prices for the fruit and making emaciated zombies of us all. Here’s a brand new recipe – from the Chubby Hubby Blog – for homemade banana ice cream, served between brownie cookies [...]

Matooke flour, courtesy Ugandan Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development Programme

Steaming banana leaves for matooke. Full video sequence here.
There’s a knock-down, drag-out contest going on right now in Kampala – held as a precursor to next month’s World Banana Congress in Kenya – to see which chef makes the best Matooke, a Ugandan banana dish [...]

Then invite me to your house. Traditional, with Nilla Wafers, here.  Mexican, with TORTILLA CHIPS, in a foofy version, here, and a basic version, here.

DAIRY QUEEN: “Delicious DQ soft serve covered in luscious strawberry, pineapple, and chocolate toppings, with whipped topping and nestled between a sweet banana.” DQ’s advantage is that it is ubiquitous; her highness has outposts in nearly every U.S. state, and internationally, too (I ate at one in Beijing.)The ice cream is special – no other [...]

Once again, scooped by BoingBoing. In Japan, Lucy and Snoopy hawk popcorn with “banana milk” flavor. Picture from Cory Doctorow’s flickr stream.

PS, you can’t buy the popcorn stateside, but somewhat yummy Nesquik banana milk is only as far as your local Circle-K, AM-PM, or Kum & Go or – and this is kind of weird [...]

see original image at flickr.
Every October, culinary masters compete at the Texas State Fair for the “Big Tex” prize – an award for the most fabulous, new recipe for a fried dessert. Though this year’s winner – fried cookie dough – sounds lovely, I was bummed to hear that a recipe for Fried Banana Pudding [...]

Twinkies are not baked. They cook themselves at room temperature. Until World War II, the filling was made with bananas (huh? Hostess used real flavors?) Then, a shortage of the fruit led to the introduction of today’s “white” flavored innards.
Banana Twinkies – Return, oh primal filling – A full Zen circle