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Banana Pudding

Sugar, if you ain’t had banana puddin’ in the South, you just ain’t had banana puddin’.

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and banana match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,430 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 12
Prep30 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a saucepan, whisk the flour, part of the divided sugar and the salt. Gradually whisk in the milk, then cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.

  3. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl with a ladleful of the hot mixture, then stir back into the pan. Cook 2 minutes, stirring, until the custard reaches 160°F (71°C). Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

  4. In a baking dish, layer some of the Nilla wafers and sliced bananas, then pour custard over them. Repeat the layers, finishing with custard.

  5. Beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until stiff, glossy peaks form.

  6. Spread the meringue over the pudding, sealing it to the edges. Crumble the remaining wafers over the top, or arrange them around the edge.

  7. Bake about 10 minutes until the meringue is golden. Cool for 30 minutes, then chill until set before serving.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Vanilla + bananatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together19,175 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Milk + bananatop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,464 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Flour + milktop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together76,993 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs