Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
In a large bowl, mix together the Indian meal, rye meal, graham meal, and white flour.
Dissolve the baking soda in the molasses and add it to the mixture.
Stir in the milk and salt, then fold in the raisins.
Steam
Pour the batter into a greased steaming mold.
Steam for four hours.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rye + raisintop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Rye + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together918 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 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
- Indian meal
- Provides the main body and coarse, crumbly structure of the bread.
- Rye meal
- Adds a dense texture and a deeper, earthy flavor to the loaf.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and a dark color to the bread.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses to produce gas that lightens the dense batter.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flours so the dry ingredients form a pourable batter.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda in the molasses. Baking soda needs an acid to react and release gas. Molasses is acidic, so dissolving the soda fully in it before mixing spreads the leavening evenly, helping the steamed bread rise without dark streaks or pockets.
“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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