Why it works: Orange and banana are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,118 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Oraxge Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Make a syrup of one pint of water and one and a half pounds of granulated sugar.
Add enough cold water to make three quarts of mixture.
Into this, squeeze the juice and most of the pulp of six oranges and three lemons, taking care to remove all seeds.
Put into freezer, and when beginning to freeze, stir in whites of six eggs, well beaten.
Make the gelatin
Dissolve a box of gelatin in half a pint of cold water, then add half a pint of boiling water.
Sweeten to taste.
Flavor with any extract you may prefer.
Let the gelatin come to a boil.
Layer and set
Take three or four bananas, peel and slice them round or lengthwise, and lay them in a deep fruit dish, then sprinkle some sugar over them.
Pour the gelatin over them, let it harden.
Use oranges in the same way.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Banana | 1 medium (118g) | 105 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Orange | 1 medium (131g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Orange + bananatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Sugar + bananatop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,102 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
-
Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + bananatop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,920 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oranges
- Provide the main citrus juice, giving the ice its tart, bright flavor.
- Eggs
- Whites beaten into the partly frozen mixture add a light, airy texture.
- Gelatin (in the method)
- Sets the liquid as it cools so the layers firm and hold their shape.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and dissolves into the syrup base.
- Bananas
- Add soft texture and mild sweetness to the layered fruit dish.
The step that matters
Stir in the beaten egg whites when the mixture just begins to freeze. Adding the whites at this point lets them distribute evenly through the cold mixture. Beaten whites hold air, which keeps the ice lighter instead of dense or separated.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, banana):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Pineapplefits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, banana. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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