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Boston Brown Bread

A whole wheat bread with molasses, butter milk, raisins or fruit, steamed for three hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Boston Brown Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

  1. Sift together the whole wheat flour, salt, and water-ground meal, and mix well.

  2. Add the dark molasses and butter milk.

  3. Add the half cup of milk in which the two level teaspoons of soda have been dissolved.

Add fruit and fill cans

  1. For raisin bread, add the one-half box of seeded raisins that have been washed and pressed dry.

  2. For fruit bread, add the one cup of mixed chopped fruits such as raisins, citron, cherries, or pineapple.

  3. Fill the one pound baking powder cans two-thirds full and place them in a vessel of warm water.

Steam

  1. Cover with several thicknesses of cloth and a top, and steam for three hours, adding more water if necessary.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

875Calories
22 gProtein
21 gFat
151 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Fruitsnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924). 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. See the original page.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Whole wheat flour
Provides the main structure and the hearty, nutty body of the bread.
Dark molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and the dark colour and flavour characteristic of the loaf.
Buttermilk (in the method)
Its acidity reacts with the soda to lift the batter and keeps the crumb tender.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce gas that makes the bread rise.
Raisins
Add pockets of chewy sweetness and moisture throughout the bread.

The step that matters

Steam for three hours with enough water. The bread cooks by steam rather than dry heat, so the water bath must not run dry. Steady steam sets the crumb evenly; a dry pot can scorch the cans and leave the loaf underdone.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, flour, molasses, butter, milk):

  1. Raisinthe original
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, flour, molasses, butter, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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