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Drink

Coffee Punch

A chilled coffee-based punch with ice, cream, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Make the coffee base

  1. Mix the coffee, egg white, and cold water in a pot.

  2. Bring to a boil.

  3. Boil for three minutes.

  4. Add the milk and stir well.

Assemble and serve

  1. In a punch bowl, place shaved ice at the bottom.

  2. Add the beaten heavy cream to the bowl.

  3. Pour the prepared coffee mixture over the cream.

  4. Sweeten to taste before serving.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Coffee
Provides the main coffee flavour and aroma of the punch.
Egg white
Helps clarify the coffee as it heats, giving a smoother, clearer drink.
Heavy cream
Adds richness and body, softening the bitterness of the coffee.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mellows the coffee into a smoother drink.

The step that matters

Boil for three minutes. The egg white must be heated until it sets and coagulates so it can trap the grounds and sediment. Stopping early leaves the punch cloudy and gritty.

“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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