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 ↓
Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Make the coffee
Boil 1 pint of water in a tin pot.
Add 1 tablespoon of ground coffee and boil for 20 to 25 minutes.
Let the coffee stand for 4 to 5 minutes to settle.
Carefully pour the coffee into a coffee pot or urn, leaving the grounds behind.
Serve
For a richer coffee, use less water and serve with boiling hot milk if cream is unavailable.
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.
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Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Fish + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Fish + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,782 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Coffee + fishtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together76 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
- Ground coffee
- Provides the main flavour and aroma, extracted into the hot water as it boils.
- Boiling water
- Acts as the solvent that draws out the coffee's flavour compounds.
- Milk
- Adds richness and softens the coffee's bitterness when served hot.
The step that matters
Let the coffee stand before pouring. Standing lets the grounds sink so they settle out. Pouring too early or too roughly stirs them back up, leaving the coffee gritty and muddy.
“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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