Name: Mango Bread Pudding
Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons salted butter; 2 cups whole milk; 1/2 cup heavy cream; 1/3 cup sugar; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 2 teaspoons ground cardamom; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 3 large eggs; 2 large mangoes, pitted, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes, or two 10-ounce bags frozen mangoes, thawed; 6 slices country bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 6 cups); Whipped Cream or vanilla ice cream for serving

Why it works: Cardamom and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,114 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Cardamom + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,114 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Vanilla + cardamomtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together237 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, cardamom, egg):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Peppermintfits about as well
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, cardamom, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Ice Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Cardamom	1 tsp ground (2g)	6
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2

Mango Bread Pudding