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Dessert

Coffee Jelly

A chilled dessert made by infusing boiling milk with coffee, gelatin, and cinnamon, then setting with egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Coffee Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the coffee milk

  1. Pour boiling milk through a muslin bag containing the coffee.

  2. In a saucepan, combine gelatin, cold milk, cinnamon, and sugar.

  3. Boil and stir until gelatin dissolves.

  4. Mix egg yolks with the coffee.

  5. Strain the milk and gelatin mixture over the coffee and yolks.

Set the jelly

  1. Pour into a mold immersed in cold water.

  2. Let it cool until stiff, about 24 hours.

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. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Coffee + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together895 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  5. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

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

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Gelatin
Sets the liquid into a firm, wobbly jelly as it cools.
Egg yolks
Add richness and body, thickening the mixture slightly and softening its texture.
Milk
Provides the creamy base that softens the coffee's bitterness and adds moisture.
Coffee
Gives the jelly its main flavor and aroma.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the bitterness of the coffee.

The step that matters

Strain the milk and gelatin mixture over the coffee and yolks. Gelatin must be fully dissolved before combining, and the mixture should be well blended and strained so no lumps of yolk or grounds remain. Smooth, evenly mixed liquid sets into a uniform jelly.

“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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