Why it works: Corn and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,345 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Banana Custard
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the custard
Dissolve corn starch in enough water to make a paste.
In a bowl, mix the dissolved corn starch, sugar, and butter.
Pour in enough water to create a thick custard.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the custard.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes or cook in boiling water for the same time.
Finish and serve
Let the custard cool completely and remove any crust that forms on top.
Finely mince the bananas and mix them into the custard.
Pour the mixture into a serving dish.
Make a meringue by beating the egg whites and adding powdered sugar, then spread it on top.
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.
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.
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Corn + bananatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Butter + bananatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,536 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn starch
- Thickens the custard as it heats and gelatinizes in the liquid.
- Egg whites
- Beaten to stiff foam for lightness, then set by heat to give structure.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, smoother texture.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness to the custard.
- Fresh ripe bananas
- Add banana flavor, sweetness and moisture to the custard.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the meringue topping.
The step that matters
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes or cook in boiling water. Egg whites and starch set with heat. Too much heat or time can make the custard curdle, weep or turn rubbery, while too little leaves it runny and unset.
Swap the banana
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Bananathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, sugar, butter, egg. 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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