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Drink

Austrian Coffee

A chilled coffee beverage made with milk, egg yolks, sugar, strong coffee, and vanilla, topped with whipped cream or ice cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Austrian Coffee

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.

  2. Gradually add the sugar while beating constantly.

  3. Mix in ½ cup of the milk.

  4. Scald the remaining milk, then stir in the egg mixture until slightly thickened.

Chill and serve

  1. Remove from heat and slowly pour in the hot coffee while stirring.

  2. Transfer to a cool container and chill thoroughly.

  3. When ready to serve, add the vanilla.

  4. Pour into small cups and top with a spoonful of whipped cream or ice cream.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  5. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as gentle heat sets their proteins, giving the drink body.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the coffee's sharpness.
Sugar
Sweetens the drink and balances the bitterness of the coffee.
Coffee
Provides the strong coffee flavor that defines the drink.
Vanilla extract
Adds aroma that rounds out the coffee and custard flavors.

The step that matters

Stir the egg mixture into the scalded milk until slightly thickened. Egg yolk proteins thicken when heated gently, but too much heat or too fast a pour can scramble them into lumps. Keep the heat moderate and stir constantly while combining.

“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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