N is for Not Aunt Edwina's Banana Bread

 

Sometime in the late 1960s, I had pumpkin bread for the very first time when a woman at church named Grace Russ brought it to a church function. I thought it was one of the best things I had ever eaten (and I suspect I ate considerably more than my share of it that day). My mom got the recipe, and pumpkin bread became a staple at our house (my mom was not much for baking, but she made an exception for pumpkin bread). 

My dad always ate the pumpkin bread as he did all food, without compliment or complaint. He rarely said he didn't like a particular dish (unless it had components he didn't like, such as mushrooms, olives, or cucumber), nor did he rave about any particular food. You could assume that no news was good news whenever he ate. so I was surprised a few years ago when he announced that the introduction of pumpkin bread to society back in the late 60s meant no one made banana bread anymore, and he REALLY liked banana bread.

In fairness, he hadn't been completely deprived of banana bread over the years; I made it for him whenever we had overripe bananas, but pumpkin bread was on the table way more often. I always used the tried-and-true recipe my mom used that had been passed down to her from her Aunt Edwina. (I think this was it for Aunt Edwina as a culinary icon; I've never run across another of her recipes in any of my mom's recipe boxes; also, I have never put the pecans OR raisins in it.)

Then a few months ago, when we were at the lake house with a bunch of overripe bananas that my dad had been saving for me, I found out I didn't have Aunt Edwina's Banana Bread recipe there. I panicked a little and considered contacting my brother to have him email me a copy of the recipe (yes, this was HIS go-to banana bread recipe, too), then figured I could surely find something similar on the internet. I did a search and found this one from the Food Network (I didn't notice until I was writing this post that the recipe had been provided to the Food Network by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, creators of several restaurants in LA, cookbook authors, and, back in the 90s, hosts of the former Food Network show "Too Hot Tamales").

Seems I didn't take any photos of the process.
Here's the batter in the prepared pans.
Yes, I am aware the photo is sideways.

Mmmmmmm!

Having just now compared the two recipes, the only real difference in them is that  Aunt Edwina's recipe calls for shortening and the new recipe uses butter. The new recipe also calls for a lower oven temperature. Believe it or not, I am no scientist, so I have no idea how these small differences can make one recipe stand a head and shoulders above the other one, but they have.

My brother is having trouble accepting this, but Aunt Edwina's recipe is no longer my go-to (it's okay, Aunt Edwina will never know; she's been gone a good 50 years). It was a good run, but Mary Sue and Susan are the new sheriff's of Banana Bread Town. You can even ask my dad, who will not hesitate to tell you the banana bread made from the new recipe is MUCH better than Aunt Edwina's.

(Want another way to up your banana bread game, regardless of your recipe? After spraying your loaf pan with cooking spray, place about a quarter of a cup of granualated sugar into the pan and tip the pan from side to side until the inside is coated in a layer of sugar. Pour out any excess sugar, then fill the pan with batter and bake as usual. The finished loaf comes out of the pan easier, and it causes the crust to be softer and deliciously sweet.)

Sugar dumped in pan that has been
sprayed with cooking spray.

After the pan has been coated with sugar.

If you don't have a favorite banana bread recipe, try Mary Sue and Susan's, and if you DO have a favorite banana bread recipe, give this one a try anyway and do a comparison, but remember, my dad would not mislead you!