Why it works: Coffee and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,344 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Coffee Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gelatine
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 4 hours, covering it by 1 inch.
In a large bowl, combine the soaked gelatine and sugar; let stand for 30 minutes.
Stir in the boiling water until the gelatine is dissolved, then strain.
Add the coffee and strain again without pressing the cloth.
Set and serve
Pour into a wet mold and refrigerate to set.
To serve, carefully turn out onto a flat dish and serve with sugar and cream.
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.
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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Forms the gel structure that holds the jelly firm when chilled.
- Clear black coffee
- Provides the main flavour and most of the liquid in the jelly.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the bitterness of the coffee.
- Boiling water
- Melts the softened gelatine so it blends evenly into the liquid.
The step that matters
Straining without pressing the cloth. Pressing forces tiny gelatine particles and cloth fibres through, which can leave the jelly cloudy. Letting it drip keeps it clear.
“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.
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