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
Mix the hot coffee and calf's foot jelly together.
Add the cream and sugar to taste.
Serve cold with your favorite biscuits.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Calf's foot jelly
- Provides gelatin, which sets the mixture into a firm, spoonable body when chilled.
- Cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving the set mixture a smooth, creamy texture.
- Coffee
- Supplies the main flavour, adding a bitter aroma that balances the sweetness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the coffee's bitterness and the richness of the cream.
The step that matters
Mix the hot coffee and calf's foot jelly together. The jelly must fully dissolve in the hot coffee so no grainy lumps remain. Gelatin dissolves best in warm liquid and then sets as it cools, so the mixture should be fully smooth before the cream is added.
“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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