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
Measure a heaping tablespoon of coffee for each person and one extra.
Mix half an egg with the coffee and moisten with cold water.
Brew
Fifteen minutes before serving, pour boiling water over the mixture, using one cup of water per person plus one extra.
Boil for about five minutes, stirring when the coffee rises.
Let it settle on the back of the stove or add a tablespoon of cold water.
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
- Egg
- Egg helps clarify the brew, binding fine grounds so they settle instead of staying cloudy.
- Coffee
- Provides the main flavour; the grounds are steeped in boiling water to extract it.
The step that matters
Boiling and stirring the coffee. Boiling extracts flavour quickly, but letting it boil too long can make the coffee bitter. Stirring when it rises keeps the grounds mixed in, and a short settling period, helped by a splash of cold water, lets the grounds drop out so the cup stays clear.
“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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