Name: Bananas in Surprise
Ingredients: ripe bananas; flavored cream; chopped jelly; colored whipped cream; pineapple syrup; grated pineapple; custard or cream

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 ↓

Bananas in Surprise

Ingredients

Directions

Peel the ripe bananas and remove the centers using a small scoop.
Fill the centers with flavored cream using a piping bag.
Serve on a bed of chopped jelly.
Alternatively, fill the centers with chopped jelly and serve in the banana skins.
For another option, slice the bananas thinly and macerate in pineapple syrup.
Reassemble the banana slices and place on separate plates.
Top with grated pineapple and add a dressing of 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.

Banana + pineappletop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together733 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,964 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Pineapple + syruptop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together568 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Banana + syruptop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together200 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Banana + creamtop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,180 recipes

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