Name: Baked Bananas
Ingredients: bananas; butter; brown sugar; cinnamon

Why it works: Sugar and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Baked Bananas

Ingredients

bananas
butter
brown sugar
cinnamon

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Peel the bananas and place them in a baking dish.

Bake and serve

Dot the bananas with butter, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until the bananas are soft and caramelized.
Serve warm.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Banana + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together701 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Banana + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,536 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,784 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Bananas: Provide the main body, softening as they bake into a tender, spoonable fruit.
Butter: Adds fat that carries flavor and helps the bananas brown in the oven.
Brown sugar: Sweetens the dish and caramelizes on the surface for deeper color and flavor.
Cinnamon: Adds warm aroma that complements the sweetness of the bananas and sugar.