Why it works: Coffee and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,339 recipes. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓
To Make Coffee
a quart of coffeeIngredients
Directions
Make the coffee
Place the ground coffee in a pot that holds 3 pints or 2 quarts.
Add a broken egg, some eggshells, or a 1-inch square piece of fish skin.
Pour in 1 quart of boiling water.
Boil for 10 minutes, then remove from heat.
Pour a cupful out at the spout, then pour it back into the pot.
Add ½ cup of cold water.
Let it sit for 10 minutes to settle.
Pour the coffee into another pot to serve.
Biggin method
For a biggin, place the ground coffee in the filter.
Wet the filter with cold water.
Let it sit for 5 minutes.
Insert the filter into the pot.
Fill the pot with boiling water.
Keep hot but not boiling.
Once brewed, add water to make a quart of coffee.
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 + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 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
- Ground coffee
- Provides the flavour, which is drawn out into the hot water during brewing.
The step that matters
Keep hot but not boiling. Boiling coffee again over-extracts the grounds, releasing bitter compounds and making the cup harsh and burnt-tasting, so the brew should stay just below a boil.
“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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