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Drink

Cafe Frappe

A chilled coffee drink made with coffee, cream, sugar syrup, vanilla, whipped cream, and ice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cafe Frappe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the coffee mixture

  1. Brew strong clear coffee using a drip coffee pot.

  2. Let the coffee cool.

  3. Combine the cooled coffee with 1 quart of heavy cream.

  4. Sweeten the mixture with sugar syrup to taste.

  5. Stir in the vanilla extract and the whipped cream.

Serve

  1. Place a large lump of ice in a punch bowl.

  2. Pour the prepared mixture over the ice.

  3. Serve in glasses.

  4. Alternatively, freeze the mixture to a mush.

  5. Serve in tall glasses.

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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Coffee + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,391 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Coffee
Provides the main coffee flavour and a slight bitterness that the sweetness balances.
Heavy cream
Adds richness and body, giving a smooth, full mouthfeel to the drink.
Sugar syrup
Adds sweetness that softens the bitterness of the coffee.
Whipped cream
Adds a light, airy froth that lifts the texture of the drink.
Vanilla extract
Adds aroma that rounds out the coffee and cream flavours.
Ice
Chills the drink and slowly dilutes it as it melts.

The step that matters

Stir in the whipped cream gently. Whipped cream is a foam of trapped air. Vigorous stirring deflates it, so the froth thins and the drink loses its light texture. Fold it in gently and briefly.

“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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