Boston Brown Bread

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. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together6,955 recipes

   Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

2. Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together6,165 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together78,219 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

4. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together10,429 recipes

   Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

5. 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

Cornmeal (in the method)

Gives the bread its coarse, dense crumb and hearty texture.

Sour milk

Its acidity reacts with baking soda to produce gas, helping the bread rise.

Baking soda

Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release carbon dioxide for lift.

Molasses

Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture to the bread.

Flour

Provides structure that holds the dense batter together during steaming.

The step that matters