Name: Indian Loaf
Ingredients: 1 pint Indian meal; 1 pint flour; ½ cup shortening; 1 pint sour milk; ½ teacup molasses; 1 tablespoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Indian Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the batter

Combine Indian meal, flour, shortening, sour milk, molasses, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and mix until well combined.

Steam and bake

Steam the mixture for 1 hour.
Remove the loaf from the steamer.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 45 minutes.
Serve hot.

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.

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.

Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,243 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Indian meal: Provides the coarse, grainy body and corn flavor of the loaf.
Flour: Gives the loaf structure so it holds together after steaming and baking.
Sour milk: Adds moisture and acidity, which reacts with the baking soda.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in sour milk to produce gas that lifts the loaf.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, moisture, and a darker color and rich flavor.
Shortening: Adds fat, which tenderizes the crumb and adds richness.

“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.