Name: Rhode Island Brown Bread
Ingredients: 2½ cups cornmeal; 1½ cups rye meal; 1 egg; 1 cup molasses; 2 teaspoons cream of tartar; 1 teaspoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 quart milk

Why it works: Rye and milk work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 918 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Rhode Island Brown Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, rye meal, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
In another bowl, mix the egg, molasses, and milk.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until well mixed.

Bake

Pour the batter into a covered dish, either earthen or iron.
Bake for 3 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.

Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together918 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together804 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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: Forms the bulk of the bread and gives it its coarse, hearty texture.
Rye meal: Adds earthy flavor and body to the batter.
Egg: Binds the batter and helps give it structure as it bakes.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark color and moisture.
Cream of tartar: Acidifies the batter and reacts with baking soda to help it rise.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic ingredients to produce gas, helping the bread rise.

“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.