Name: Boston Brown Bread
Ingredients: one cupful of r^'^e meal; half cupful of flour; one teaspoonful of salt; one-third cupful of molasses; one-half tea- spoonful of soda

Why it works: Flour and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,429 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Boston Brown Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

Combine one cupful of rye meal, one cupful of fine corn meal, one-half cupful of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, one-half teaspoonful of soda, one-third cupful of molasses, and one and one-half of sweet milk.

Steam

Steam for three hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

562Calories

13 gProtein

1 gFat

123 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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

By Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid society. [from old catalog]. 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.

Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + teatop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together449 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + teatop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together139 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rye meal: Gives the bread its dense, hearty body and dark, earthy flavor.
Fine corn meal: Adds a coarse, moist crumb and a sweet corn flavor.
Flour: Provides wheat gluten and starch that help hold the loaf together.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep brown color.
Soda: Reacts with the molasses and acid to lighten the batter.
Sweet milk (in the method): Hydrates the dry flours so they form a batter.

The step that matters

Steam for three hours. A long, gentle steam cooks the dense batter through evenly without drying its surface, so the loaf stays moist and sets firmly.

“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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Boston Brown Bread