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 ↓
Steamed Boston Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the batter
In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, Graham flour, sour milk, molasses, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased steaming mold.
Steam
Steam for 4 hours or longer.
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.
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Forms the bulk of the crumb and gives the bread its coarse, hearty texture.
- Graham flour
- Adds structure and a nutty, wholesome flavour to the crumb.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter and adds moisture.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and a rich, deep flavour.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to produce gas that leavens the bread.
The step that matters
Pour into a greased steaming mold. The batter must be fully sealed in a greased mold so it steams evenly and does not stick. Baking soda starts reacting as soon as it meets the acidic sour milk, so the batter should go into the mold and steam without long delay.
“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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