Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Coffee Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the coffee base
Boil 1 quart of water and add 12 ounces of ground coffee.
Boil briefly and strain through cheesecloth.
In a large bowl, combine the strained coffee with 1 gallon of cream, 36 eggs, and 8 pounds of sugar.
Heat over a steam bath until hot.
Finish and freeze
Add 3½ gallons of cream to the mixture and strain again.
Freeze the mixture until solid.
Optionally, add burnt sugar for color or make it like vanilla ice 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Egg yolks thicken the custard base as they heat, giving the ice cream body and a smooth, rich texture.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, creating a rich, creamy mouthfeel and softer texture after freezing.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point, keeping the frozen ice cream softer and scoopable.
- Ground coffee
- Provides the coffee flavour and aroma that defines the ice cream.
The step that matters
Heating the egg custard over a steam bath. Eggs thicken as they warm, but if the base gets too hot it can curdle or turn grainy. Gentle, indirect heat and straining afterward help keep the custard smooth.
“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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