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 ↓
Coffee Cream, in Cups
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cream
Boil the cream in a saucepan.
Add the isinglass and stir until dissolved.
Strain the cream into a bowl.
Flavour and serve
Mix in the strong coffee and sweeten with sugar-candy.
Whisk the mixture for about 5 minutes until frothy.
Pour the cream into cups and serve.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + coffeetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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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
- Cream
- Provides fat and richness, giving the set dessert its smooth, creamy body.
- Isinglass
- A gelatin-like setting agent that firms the cream as it cools.
- Strong coffee
- Supplies the main coffee flavour and aroma.
- Sugar-candy
- Adds sweetness to balance the bitterness of the coffee.
The step that matters
Dissolving the isinglass. Isinglass must dissolve completely in the hot cream before straining. Undissolved pieces leave specks and gel unevenly, so the cream may not set smoothly once cooled.
“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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