Why it works: Coffee and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,239 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Boiled Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scald a small white enamel coffee pot.
Add coffee, egg white, and cold water to the pot and mix with a spoon.
Brew
Pour in the boiling water, set the pot on fire, and allow it to boil for three minutes after boiling starts.
Remove from fire and let it sit on the stove, keeping hot but not boiling, for twelve minutes.
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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Coffee + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,239 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Finely ground coffee
- Provides the main flavor and body as hot water extracts it into the brew.
- Boiling water
- Extracts the flavor from the grounds and keeps the coffee hot during brewing.
- Egg white
- Binds the fine grounds so they settle to the bottom, leaving a clearer cup.
- Cold water
- Wets the grounds before the boiling water is added so they steep evenly.
The step that matters
Keeping the pot hot but not boiling during the rest. Boiling again would stir up the settled grounds and make the coffee cloudy and bitter. Gentle heat keeps the coffee warm while the grounds sink.
“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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