Name: Steamed Brown Bread
Ingredients: 1 cup white flour; 1 cup graham flour; 1 cup corn meal; ½ cup molasses; 1⅓ cups sour milk; 1 teaspoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Steamed Brown Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a large bowl, combine white flour, graham flour, cornmeal, molasses, sour milk, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined.
Pour the batter into two one-pound coffee cans.

Steam

Steam the cans for 4 hours.

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.

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.

Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,955 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,165 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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).
Molasses + milktop 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

Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas, so the bread rises and lightens.
Sour milk: Provides moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark color and moisture to the bread.
Graham flour: Adds coarse bran and wholegrain texture and a nutty flavor.
White flour: Provides gluten structure so the bread holds its shape.
Cornmeal (in the method): Adds a coarse, crumbly texture and a slightly sweet corn flavor.