Name: Dessert Surpassing Ice Cream
Ingredients: 1 package raspberry bromangelon; ½ orange (juiced); 1 pint boiling water; 2 large bananas (sliced); 1 handful hickory nuts or pecans (preferred); cream (for serving); whipped cream (optional)

Why it works: Raspberry and banana work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 125 recipes. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells fruity, sweet. The science ↓

Dessert Surpassing Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

Combine the raspberry bromelain, orange juice, and boiling water in a bowl, then stir the mixture.
Let it cool until it is cold but not set.
Add the sliced bananas and nuts to the cooled mixture.
Stir lightly.
Do not add sugar.

Set and serve

Pour the mixture into six molds.
Let it set.
Turn the molds upside down and remove the dessert.
Serve with cream and top with whipped cream if desired.

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.

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.

Raspberry + bananatop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together125 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).
Raspberry + orangetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together521 recipes

Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange + bananatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,118 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Banana + nutstop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together135 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl decanoate (grape, waxy).
Raspberry + creamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,332 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Bananas: Adds natural sweetness, flavor and a soft, creamy texture to the set dessert.
Orange juice: Adds acidity and citrus flavor that balances the sweetness of the bananas.
Nuts: Add a crunchy texture that contrasts with the soft, set mixture.