Cafe au Lait
To one quart of very strong strained coffee, add one pint of hot milk. Serve with whipped cream and sugar.
A two-line formula that depends entirely on what "very strong" means in the original. Read it as a 2:1 ratio of coffee to milk and scale down from there.
- YieldA quart of coffee plus a pint of milk makes six generous cups, or eight smaller ones. Halve everything for a household of two.
- "Very strong" in period termsPeriod sources vary, but strong coffee was commonly brewed at something like two tablespoons of ground coffee per cup of water. For a modern equivalent, brew at the strong end of the usual range, such as a concentrated French press.
- "Strained"The instruction assumes coffee boiled loose in a pot, then poured through cloth or a fine sieve to catch grounds. Any modern filtered or press brew already satisfies this.
- The milk must be hot, not boiledThe milk should be hot, not boiled -- The recipe asks only for "hot milk." Milk brought to a full boil develops a cooked, faintly sulfurous flavor and a skin on top. Heat it to steaming, around 150-160F, and pour it in at once.
- AssemblyCombine coffee and milk off the heat and serve immediately in warmed cups. Reheating the mixture flattens the coffee and scalds the milk.
- Cream and sugarThe whipped cream is sweetened lightly if at all, since sugar is passed separately. A soft, barely-holding whip sits better on the surface than a stiff one.
Café au lait is simply French for "coffee with milk." In the United States the drink is most closely associated with New Orleans, where it is traditionally made with coffee cut by roasted chicory and served with hot milk rather than cold, a habit generally traced to periods when imported coffee was scarce and expensive. This version makes no mention of chicory, which suggests a straightforward national recipe rather than a Creole one.