Monday, June 21, 2010

Frederick the Great's Coffee Recipe and Taste Blindness

About a year ago Jay told me that in Serve it Forth, M.F.K. Fisher describes Frederick the Great's recipe for coffee:




There are many references to Frederick the Great's method of making coffee online, usually followed by expressions of disgust. As far as I can tell, no one who has written about the recipe has actually tried it. But it seemed to me that there was at least the possibility that it could turn out well.

Jay and Dan and I gave it a shot on our recent trip to St. Louis.



It was terrible. But not because of the mustard. Adding mustard actually made it taste better. The problem was the hot champagne. Just the smell of hot champagne was awful.

Fisher's description doesn't rule out a chilled version of Frederick the Great's recipe, however. So her charge of taste blindness might still be disconfirmed.

1 comment:

lucasdigital said...

I always wondered if anyone had tried to recreate this odd concoction. I can see why Frederick ordered his servants to forcibly wake him each morning, I think I'd need to be forced to drink this.