The Catcher in the Rye and the Brown Betty

  Posted on January 7, 2011  by Leslie Blythe  No comments

A brown betty is a spiced fruit dessert with buttered breadcrumbs or cake-crumb topping that turns golden brown as it cooks. It is similar to a cobbler or a bread pudding.  The most popular Brown Betty uses apples, but this one uses pears.

A Brown Betty dessert is unfavourably mentioned in J. D. Salinger’s 1951 classic novel The Catcher in the Rye where it is described as typical unpleasant boarding school fare. My daughter, Zoe, will like this reference since she was recently quoted and pictured in the national press about The Catcher in the Rye. Click on article – http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9785052.