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Drink

French Coffee

A coffee brewed with Mocha, Government Java, chicory, milk, and pearl barley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Coffee and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,202 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

French Coffee

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the coffee

  1. Combine 2 parts Mocha coffee and 1 part Government Java.

  2. Roast the combined coffee.

  3. Grind the roasted coffee.

  4. For every 3 tablespoons of ground coffee, add 1 teaspoon of chicory.

  5. Brew the coffee as usual.

Prepare the milk

  1. While boiling the milk, add a large pinch of pearl barley.

  2. After boiling, strain the milk.

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.

  1. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  2. Coffee + chicorytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  3. Milk + barleytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  4. Coffee + barleytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Chicory + barleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Mocha coffee
Forms the main coffee flavor base of the blend.
Government java
Adds body and depth to the coffee blend.
Chicory
Adds a roasted, slightly bitter flavor to the coffee.
Milk
Adds richness and creaminess that softens the coffee's bitterness.
Pearl barley
Infuses the milk with a toasted, nutty aroma.

“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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