Name: Boiled Coffee
Ingredients: 2 ounces bitter chocolate; 3 cups milk; 4 teaspoons sugar; 1 cup boiling water; salt

Why it works: Chocolate and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Boiled Coffee

Ingredients

Directions

Make the coffee

Use 1 tablespoon of medium-ground coffee for each cup, allowing 1 extra spoon for the pot.
Mix coffee in a bowl with crushed egg shell, a little of the white of egg, and a little water thoroughly.
Put in coffee pot and add 1 cup cold water to each spoon of coffee, except the extra for the pot.
Boil up twice.
Clear with a little cold water.
Serve at once.

Make the chocolate

Scald milk.
Melt chocolate in a small saucepan over hot water.
Add sugar, salt, and gradually boiling water.
When smooth, place on range and boil for 1 minute.
Add scalded milk.
Beat and serve.
If sweet chocolate is used, omit sugar.
Serve with whipped cream or marshmallow on top.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

353Calories

9 gProtein

17 gFat

42 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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.

Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,128 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

Bitter chocolate: Provides the rich, deep chocolate flavour and body of the drink.
Milk: Adds creaminess and softens the bitterness of the chocolate.
Sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the bitter chocolate.
Coffee (in the method): Supplies the coffee flavour and aroma of the drink.

“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.