Why it works: Banana and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,470 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Banana Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the banana milk
Peel and remove stringy portions from the bananas, then pass them through a vegetable ricer or sieve.
Add the banana puree to the scalded milk.
Make the custard
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks, then mix in the salt and sugar.
Gradually dilute the egg mixture with the hot banana-milk mixture.
Return the combined mixture to a saucepan and cook over hot water, stirring constantly until it coats the back of a spoon.
Flavor with lemon juice or vanilla extract.
Chill and serve
Pour into glasses and chill thoroughly.
Garnish each glass with strawberries and banana slices before serving.
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 + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,470 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Banana + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,134 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Bananas
- Provide the main flavor and a smooth, thick body when pureed into the custard.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and give it a rich texture as they set with gentle heat.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the banana flavor.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the flavor of the bananas and lemon or vanilla.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard over hot water. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with heat, but too much heat or too little stirring can curdle them. Stir constantly and stop when the custard coats the back of a spoon.
Swap the banana
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, sugar, lemon):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Figfits better
- Bananathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar, lemon. 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.
More banana custard recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.