Why it works: Coffee and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,339 recipes. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓
Good Coffee
20 personsIngredients
Directions
Prepare the pot
Clean, wash, scald, and dry the coffee pot before each use.
Brew
For each person, use 1 tablespoon of coffee and ½ pint of water.
Boil for 5 minutes, then remove from heat.
For 20 persons, use 1½ pints of ground coffee.
Mix with cold water in a cheesecloth bag.
Pour 1 gallon of boiling water over the coffee mixture and let it stand to keep hot.
Serve
Serve with whipped cream.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Coffee + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,239 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Coffee
- Provides the flavour and aroma that hot water draws out of the grounds.
- Cream
- Adds richness and softens the bitterness of the coffee.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling water over the coffee and let it stand. Hot water extracts flavour from the grounds quickly. Letting the coffee stand too long over heat keeps extracting, which can make the brew taste harsh and bitter.
“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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