Name: Steamed Brown Bread
Ingredients: 1 cup cornmeal; 2 cups graham flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 cup molasses; 1 cup sweet cream; 1 cup buttermilk; 2 cups all-purpose flour

Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Steamed Brown Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Mix the batter

In a large bowl, mix cornmeal, graham flour, and salt.
Add molasses, sweet cream, and buttermilk to the dry ingredients.
Dissolve baking soda in a little sweet cream and add to the mixture. Stir until well combined.

Steam and dry

Pour the batter into a greased steaming mold.
Steam for 3 hours.
After steaming, place the mold in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) to dry off.

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.

Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cream + buttermilktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together674 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + buttermilktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together526 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,408 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

Cornmeal: Gives the bread a coarse, crumbly texture and its characteristic grainy body.
Graham flour: Adds a nutty, hearty flavour and a denser crumb than white flour.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic buttermilk and molasses to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture, and a deep caramel-like flavour.
Buttermilk: Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds tenderness and tang.
Sweet cream: Adds richness and fat, softening the crumb and carrying the baking soda.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda before adding it to the batter. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and evenly distributed so it reacts with the acidic liquids throughout the batter. Unevenly mixed soda leaves pockets of bitter taste and uneven rising.

“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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Steamed Brown Bread