Why it works: Coffee and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,344 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Coffee Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Soften the gelatine in ½ pint of cold water.
Add ½ pint of strong boiling hot coffee and ½ cup of sugar.
Add enough boiling water to make 1½ pints of liquid.
Strain the mixture into a mold to harden.
Serve
Serve very cold with cream and sugar, or 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.
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 + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, wobbly jelly as it cools.
- Strong coffee
- Provides the main coffee flavour and dark colour of the jelly.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the coffee and balances its bitterness.
The step that matters
Softening the gelatine before adding hot liquid. Gelatine must first soak in cold water so it hydrates evenly; adding it dry or to hot liquid without soaking can leave lumps and weak setting.
“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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