Why it works: Banana and pineapple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 733 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Fruit Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Cover the orange pieces with sugar and let them stand for 1 hour.
Pour off the juice from the oranges.
Layer and set
Layer the banana pieces on top of the oranges in a mold.
Add a layer of grated pineapple over the bananas.
Dissolve the gelatin in cold water, then add it to the orange juice and heat until boiling.
Let the mixture cool slightly, then pour it over the fruit.
Serve with whipped cream.
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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Banana + pineappletop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together733 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Orange + pineappletop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,664 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,628 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,778 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Orange + bananatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatin
- Sets the juice into a firm, sliceable pudding around the fruit.
- Sugar
- Draws juice out of the oranges and sweetens the pudding.
- Oranges
- Provide citrus juice and acidity that flavours the set pudding.
The step that matters
Heating the gelatin mixture to boiling. Gelatin must be fully dissolved before it is poured over the fruit; if it is not, it will not set evenly. Letting it cool slightly before pouring keeps the fruit from going soft and mushy.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, banana, pineapple, gelatin, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, banana, pineapple, gelatin, cream. 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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