Name: Banana Pudding
Ingredients: rum liquor from soaked bananas; slices of buttered bread

Why it works: Rum and banana work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 183 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Banana Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

rum liquor from soaked bananas
slices of buttered bread

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Pour the rum liquor over the bananas in the mold.
Cover with more slices of buttered bread, ensuring the edges fit exactly.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown, about 1 hour.
Turn out onto a hot dish and serve with custard or cream.

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.

Rum + bananatop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together183 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Banana + breadtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together67 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Rum + breadtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together97 recipes

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