Hay grew up in a small town near Memphis, Tenn., where Elvis and southern cuisine are king. He is currently attending Eastern Maine Community College’s culinary program and will be graduating with an associate of arts and science degree in May. Hay’s experience began at the age of 11 with Hamburger Helper meals he cooked for his family. Now between full-time school and a 40-hour workweek, Hay has found the time to assemble a new local “family” together (that’s what he calls them) and treat them to elaborate dinner parties, ranging from rustic Italian to ornate French-inspired meals.
Hay’s northern family consists of “a few close friends”: Kimmy Taylor, Kaitlin Gallagher, Mike Tupper, Jessie Howard, Sam Bossé, Matt Shirland, Mandy Goodspeed, Dan Miller, Justin Frazell, Bridget Brown, Wes Marquis, Adam Hatch, Jessica Rowles, and Tom Dwyer; and “home” (the Orrington house where Hay entertains) belongs to Justin’s folks, Dan and Karen Frazell
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The menu featured Italian cuisine, beginning with a bread-and-butter course consisting of freshly baked Italian bread topped with toasted sesame seeds and accentuated with a compound butter made of roasted garlic, oregano, and black pepper. Following was a tossed salad of mixed greens garnished with fresh mozzarella and cherry tomatoes in a classic Italian dressing. The entrée featured Hay’s “top secret” fettuccine Alfredo (we tried to get him to tell us the recipe but to no avail), encircled by roasted-garlic mashed potatoes. The Alfredo was, for lack of a better word, “incredible.”
The house, as well as the “family,” comes with an interesting history. Built in 1790, the Frazells’ home actually had a cannonball shot through it (unexploded) during the War of 1812. The cannonball, still intact, sits in the Frazells’ hallway to commemorate this interesting event. During the summertime, the “family” gets together for pool parties complete with smoked meats, and, naturally, they get together during the holidays—what family doesn’t? This past Christmas was probably the most memorable. Hay decided to treat everyone to some Memphis-style smoked pulled-pork, which required turning the garage into a smoke room. Unfortunately, Hay was a little too successful in creating smoke, and the fire department showed up thinking the house was on fire.
At this particular Italian dinner party, the only fire came from a portable gas burner used to prepare the flaming dessert. After three beautifully prepared and plated courses, everyone still made room for the highly anticipated dessert. (Homeowner Dan Frazell even summoned his younger children from upstairs to witness the fireworks display.) Hay started by making a caramel sauce, and eyes widened in anticipation as he placed slices of banana into the bubbling sauce just before purposefully igniting the mixture. The result was a complex-flavored caramel sauce with bananas, poured over vanilla ice cream. As stunning as the presentation was, the taste of the dessert was even more satisfying.
The key to any good meal is a good atmosphere, good friends, and, of course, good food. Without a doubt, Hay proved he knows this recipe for success. If you would like to learn more about Brandon Hay’s world, feel free to email him at bhay1972@netzero.com.
Brandon's Bananas Flambe
Yields 2 servings
3 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs. sugar, granulated
2 bananas, quartered
1 oz. Meyer’s dark rum
1 oz. banana liqueur
1/2 tsp. cinnamon/sugar mixture
2 portions (4-oz. scoops) vanilla ice cream
Add butter and sugar to hot Suzette pan, caramelize. Then add bananas and coat with caramelized sugar mixture. Remove pan from flame; add rum and banana liqueur. Return to flame and ignite. While still ignited, sprinkle cinnamon/sugar mixture over pan. When flame subsides, place half of the bananas and half of the sauce over each of the scoops of ice cream.
