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Bangin' Banana Bread

"Moist, fluffy and flavorful banana bread with macadamia nuts."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Banana and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,430 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

1 - 9x5 inch loaf
Prep15 min
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with a little of the butter.

  2. Beat the remaining butter and the white sugar together until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.

  3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla extract and the pureed bananas and mix until smooth.

  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and kosher salt.

  5. Fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture just until no dry flour remains. Fold in the chopped macadamia nuts.

  6. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Tent with foil if the top browns too quickly.

  7. Cool the loaf in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack and cool completely, about 1 hour, before slicing.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Banana + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

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

  3. Flour + macadamia nuttop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together119 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Vanilla + macadamia nuttop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together106 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together122,858 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the macadamia nut

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

  1. Almondbetter flavor fit
  2. Pecansabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Chestnutabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Macadamia nutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, banana, vanilla, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).