Why it works: Coffee and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,239 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the coffee
Brown the coffee lightly, ensuring it is well-roasted but not burned.
Grind the coffee moderately fine just before using.
If using, mix the coffee with one-third of an egg or half an egg to create a paste.
Brew and serve
Add cold water to the paste and place it in a boiler.
Pour boiling water over the coffee in the boiler, using the amount you need.
Boil briskly for 10 to 15 minutes and serve immediately.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Coffee + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,239 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Coffee
- Provides the main flavor and aroma, which develop from roasting and extraction in the boiler.
- Egg
- Binds the ground coffee into a paste before brewing.
The step that matters
Boil briskly for 10 to 15 minutes. Boiling extracts flavor from the grounds over time. Boiling too long pulls out excess bitter compounds, so timing matters for a balanced cup.
“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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