Name: Iced Biscuits a LA Marcus Hill
Ingredients: 2 cups syrup (32 degrees strength); ½ cup white essence of mocha coffee (made by roasting 6 oz. raw mocha and steeping in 1 pint boiling milk for 1 hour, then strained); 1 pint double cream, whipped; 2 egg whites from Italian meringue paste

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 ↓

Iced Biscuits a LA Marcus Hill

Ingredients

2 cups syrup (32 degrees strength)
½ cup white essence of mocha coffee (made by roasting 6 oz. raw mocha and steeping in 1 pint boiling milk for 1 hour, then strained)
1 pint double cream, whipped
2 egg whites from Italian meringue paste

Directions

Mix the syrup and egg yolks in a bowl.
Strain this mixture into an egg bowl.
Add the essence of coffee and whisk until combined.
Gently fold in the meringue and then the whipped cream.
If possible, cover the surface with pink cherry water ice after freezing for 1 hour.
Freeze for an additional hour.

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.

Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,202 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Syrup + creamtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,964 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Syrup + coffeetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together318 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,339 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).