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Drink

Frosted Coffee

A chilled coffee beverage made with ice, coffee syrup, sweet cream, soda water, topped with whipped cream and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,964 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Frosted Coffee

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Fill a large tumbler one-fourth full with chipped ice.

  2. Add coffee syrup and sweet cream, then shake thoroughly.

  3. Pour soda water into the shaker.

  4. Strain the mixture into the glass, leaving the ice behind.

Finish and serve

  1. Top with a spoonful of whipped cream and sprinkle lightly with nutmeg.

  2. Optionally, add a spoonful of ice cream instead of whipped cream.

  3. If using an egg, break it into the glass after adding the ice.

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. Syrup + creamtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Coffee + syruptop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together318 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Coffee + nutmegtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together572 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Coffee syrup
Adds sweetness and coffee flavour to the drink.
Sweet cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body.
Soda water
Adds fizz and lightens the texture of the drink.
Whipped cream
Adds a rich, creamy topping that melts slowly into the drink.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coffee, syrup, cream):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Gingerfits less well
  4. Peppermintfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against coffee, syrup, cream. 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.

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