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Nutritious Coffee

A coffee beverage made with isinglass, milk, and optional egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 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 ↓

Nutritious Coffee

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the coffee

  1. Dissolve the isinglass in a little water.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the coffee and nearly boiling milk.

  3. Boil the mixture for a few minutes.

Clear and serve

  1. Clear the coffee by pouring it into a cup and back again.

  2. Add the dissolved isinglass and let it settle by the fire for a few minutes.

  3. Beat the egg in a breakfast cup and pour the coffee into it, or drink without the egg.

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. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Coffee + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,239 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Isinglass
Fining agent that gathers suspended particles so the coffee settles clear.
Freshly ground coffee
Provides the main coffee flavour and aroma.
Milk
Adds body, mellows bitterness and gives a creamy texture.
Egg
Optional addition that adds richness and body to the drink.

The step that matters

Add the dissolved isinglass and let it settle. Isinglass is a gelatin-like fining agent that binds fine particles so they sink. It needs to be fully dissolved and added before settling, or the coffee stays cloudy.

“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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