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To maJce Coffee

A method for brewing fresh-ground coffee using boiling water, isinglass, and sugar.

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 ↓

To maJce Coffee

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Put 2 ounces of fresh-ground coffee into a coffee pot.

  2. Pour 8 cups of boiling water over the coffee.

  3. Let it boil for 6 minutes.

  4. Pour out a cupful 2 or 3 times, then return the cupful to the pot.

  5. Add 2-3 isinglass chips.

  6. Pour 1 large spoonful of boiling water on it.

  7. Boil for 5 more minutes.

  8. Set the pot by the fire to keep hot for 10 minutes.

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. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

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

  3. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Fresh-ground coffee
Provides the main flavour and aroma of the brew.
Isinglass chips
Fining agent that helps clear fine particles so the coffee settles clearer.

“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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