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Coffee-cream

A creamy coffee beverage made with fresh cream, milk, sugar, salt, coffee beans, and egg yolk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cream base

  1. Boil equal quantities of fresh cream and milk.

  2. Season with sugar and a pinch of salt.

  3. Roast the coffee beans.

  4. Add the roasted beans hot to the cream, or use a strong coffee tincture.

  5. Once cold, add one egg yolk for every cup of cream.

  6. Strain the mixture two or three times.

Cook in a water bath

  1. Place cups in a wide pan of boiling water, and cover the cups halfway.

  2. Cover the pan.

  3. Place embers over the lid to keep the vapor from falling.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Cream + coffeetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fresh cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the custard a smooth, rich texture.
Milk
Adds liquid and body, diluting the cream into a lighter, pourable base.
Egg yolk
Thickens and sets the custard as it cooks, giving it a firm yet tender structure.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the bitterness of the roasted coffee.
Coffee beans
Provide the main coffee flavour and aroma infused into the cream.

The step that matters

Gentle cooking in the water bath. Egg yolks set into a smooth custard at moderate temperatures. Too much heat makes the proteins tighten and curdle, leaving the texture grainy. The water bath and covers keep the heat gentle and even.

“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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