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Frozen Coffee

A chilled coffee beverage made with cream, milk, sugar, coffee, arrowroot, and water, then frozen.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Frozen Coffee

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 ↓

Frozen Coffee

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, heat the milk and 1 cup of cream.

  2. Once hot, add the sugar, coffee, and dissolved arrowroot.

  3. Boil while stirring until thickened to custard consistency.

  4. Set aside to cool.

Finish and freeze

  1. Once cold, stir in the remaining quart of cream.

  2. Freeze the mixture.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

  3. Cream + coffeetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

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

  5. Cream + milktop 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

Cream
Adds fat for a rich, smooth texture.
Milk
Supplies liquid and milk solids for body and creaminess.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point so the dessert stays softer.
Arrowroot
Starch that thickens the mixture as it boils.
Coffee
Provides the main coffee flavour.

The step that matters

Boil while stirring until thickened. Arrowroot only thickens once the mixture reaches a boil, so it must be brought fully up to temperature. Constant stirring keeps the starch dispersed, preventing lumps and scorching on the bottom of the pan, and gives a smooth custard base for freezing.

Swap the arrowroot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, milk, sugar, coffee):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Sweet potatofits about as well
  4. Arrowrootthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, milk, sugar, coffee. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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