Why it works: Milk and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Koumiss
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Ferment
In a clean container, combine the cow's milk and sugar.
Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Add the yeast and mix well.
Cover the container with a cloth and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours to ferment.
Chill and serve
After fermentation, refrigerate before serving.
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.
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Cow's milk
- Provides the liquid and proteins that the yeast and microbes ferment into a tangy, lightly effervescent drink.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing carbon dioxide and alcohol and adding sweetness.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugars in the milk, creating carbonation and the drink's characteristic flavour.
The step that matters
Fermenting at room temperature for 24 hours. Yeast activity depends on the sugar being fully dissolved and the container being clean; contamination can spoil the batch, and fermentation must be allowed to run before chilling so the flavour and carbonation develop.
“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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