I can’t do bananas, not under any circumstances. Not in an otherwise tasty berry smoothie. Not in a delicious if ridiculously named island cocktail. Not in a tempting billowy pie. And not in David Guas’ all-but-irresistible Banana Pudding with Vanilla Wafer Crumble, which he was serving at The Taste of T, an annual event that combines design (gorgeous showroom kitchens) and dining (from David’s puddings to Dan Barber’s shots of homemade V8 mixed with a kind of buttermilk parfait).
David’s a Fine Cooking contributor (wait until you see what he’s got baking in our next issue), a pastry chef, and the author of a new book called DamGoodSweet (written with another Fine Cooking contributor, Raquel Pelzel, and published by the Taunton Press). There is so much in this book to love; why couldn’t he have made the Café au Lait Crème Brûlée, the Red Velvet Cake, or the Lemon Ice Box Pie?
Of course, I couldn’t say that, so I was left to my own devices, walking the 11 floors of New York’s famed Architects & Designers Building, fantasizing about the kitchens and sampling the wares of others. Poor me (not!).
There’s no explanation for my little banana problem; I was born with the aversion. Is there a food you feel this way about? A deal-breaker in any dish?
