Why it works: Coffee and corn work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 247 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Coffee Hold
Ingredients
Directions
Make the coffee base
Dissolve the corn-starch in a small portion of the coffee.
Heat the remaining coffee to boiling point.
Stir in the corn-starch and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
Mold and serve
Pour into cold, wet molds and serve with 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.
-
Coffee + corntop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together247 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
-
Corn + creamtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the coffee as it cooks, giving the mixture a set, firm body once chilled.
- Liquid coffee
- Provides the main liquid and coffee flavor of the dish.
The step that matters
Stir in the corn-starch and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Starch granules must be heated in liquid until they swell and thicken; if the mixture is undercooked, it stays thin and may taste starchy. Stirring keeps the starch evenly dispersed so it does not clump.
“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.
You might also like
Brown Coffee with Egg175 recipes
Egg Coffee20 recipes
Coffee Milk12 recipes
Postum Coffee9 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.