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Dessert

Banana Pie

A custard-filled pie with sliced bananas and a meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and banana are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,430 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Banana Pie

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

  1. Beat the egg yolks into the milk in a saucepan.

  2. Add the sugar and mix well.

  3. Moisten the cornstarch with a little cold milk and egg yolks.

  4. Add the moistened cornstarch to the saucepan.

  5. Boil the mixture until thick, stirring constantly.

Assemble the pies

  1. Place a layer of banana slices in each baked pie crust.

  2. Pour the thick filling over the banana slices.

  3. Add another layer of banana slices on top.

Top and bake

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Spread the beaten egg whites over the pies.

  3. Bake the pies in a 400°F (200°C) oven for a few minutes until the frosting is lightly browned.

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.

  1. Vanilla + bananatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  3. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Milk + bananatop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,470 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Egg yolks
Thicken and enrich the custard filling, giving it body and a rich texture.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture as it boils, giving the filling its set.
Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks to form the meringue topping that browns in the oven.
Rich milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding moisture and richness.
White sugar
Sweetens the custard filling and helps the meringue brown.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture until thick, stirring constantly.. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil, but it can scorch or form lumps on the bottom of the pan if not stirred constantly.

Swap the banana

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, vanilla, sugar):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Peachfits about as well
  3. Blueberryfits about as well
  4. Bananathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, vanilla, sugar. 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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