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, in Cups
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cream
Boil the cream in a saucepan.
Add the isinglass and strain the mixture.
Sweeten with sugar-candy and stir in the coffee.
Whisk and serve
Whisk the cream for about five minutes.
Pour the cream into cups and serve.
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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Cream + coffeetop 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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream
- Provides the rich fat and body that give the dessert its smooth, creamy texture.
- Isinglass
- A gelatin-like setting agent that firms the cream so it holds its shape in cups.
- Strong coffee
- Supplies the coffee flavour and bitterness that define the dish.
- Sugar-candy
- Adds sweetness to balance the bitterness of the coffee.
The step that matters
Whisking the cream. Whisking incorporates air into the cream and helps it thicken evenly as the isinglass sets, giving a light, uniform texture rather than a dense or lumpy one.
“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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