Name: Brown Bread
Ingredients: 1 cup Indian meal; 2 heaping cups rye meal; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup molasses; 1 pint hot water; butter for greasing the pan

Why it works: Rye and molasses work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 804 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Brown Bread

Ingredients

Directions

In a large bowl, mix the Indian meal, rye meal, salt, and baking soda until well combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the molasses with 1 pint of hot water and stir until mixed.
Pour the molasses mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until fully combined.
Grease a tin bread or pudding boiler with butter.
Transfer the mixture into the greased boiler and prepare for baking.

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.

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.

Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together804 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Rye + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together348 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Molasses + buttertop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,123 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).