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Bread

Boston Brown Bread

A steamed bread made with cornmeal, rye flour, molasses, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rye and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Boston Brown Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, rye flour, salt, and baking powder.

  2. In another bowl, mix the beaten eggs, molasses, and milk.

  3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.

Steam

  1. Pour the mixture into a large covered tin.

  2. Let it steam overnight.

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.

  1. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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 bread and gives it its coarse, hearty texture.
Rye flour
Adds earthy flavour and some structure alongside the cornmeal.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the bread sets.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and a deep, rich flavour.
Baking powder
Releases gas to lighten the batter and help it rise.
Milk
Supplies the liquid that hydrates the flours and keeps the bread moist.

The step that matters

Let it steam overnight. Steaming in a sealed tin keeps the bread moist and cooks it gently through. Too little sealing or heat lets the surface dry out and the crumb turn dense or gummy.

“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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