Why it works: Coffee and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,202 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓
Iced Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Brew more coffee than needed for breakfast.
Combine three to four cups of strong coffee with nearly one-third as much boiled milk while both are hot.
Chill the mixture in ice.
Serve
Serve in glasses with a lump of ice in each glass.
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 + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Strong coffee
- Provides the main coffee flavour and bitterness that stands up to dilution by ice.
- Boiled milk
- Adds creaminess and softens the bitterness of the coffee.
- Ice
- Chills the drink quickly and keeps it cold when served.
The step that matters
Combine the coffee and milk while both are hot. Mixing them hot keeps the milk proteins dispersed and the blend smooth; the chilling with ice then cools the drink without curdling it.
“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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