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 Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Make a custard by whisking the egg yolks and cream together.
Add the roasted coffee beans and let it sit to infuse the flavor.
Strain the mixture to remove the coffee beans.
Stir in the sugar until dissolved.
Freeze
Chill the custard completely, then freeze it in an ice cream maker.
Serve
Dip the mold in cold water briefly to release the ice 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.
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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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Coffee + creamtop 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).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and body, and help the custard thicken and set smoothly.
- Cream
- Adds fat that gives the ice cream a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
- Roasted coffee beans
- Infuse the base with coffee aroma and bitter, roasted flavor.
- Castor sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the frozen texture so it stays scoopable.
The step that matters
Chill the custard completely before freezing. A thoroughly cold base freezes quickly in the machine. Fast freezing forms smaller ice crystals, which keeps the ice cream smooth rather than icy.
“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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