Name: Rhode Island Brown Bread
Ingredients: 2 ½ cups cornmeal; 1 ½ cups rye flour; 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 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 ↓

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).

Mix the batter

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, rye flour, 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 earthen or iron dish.
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 + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,320 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together918 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 loaf and gives it its coarse, crumbly texture.
Rye flour: Adds structure and a denser, darker crumb alongside the cornmeal.
Egg: Binds the batter and helps hold the loaf together as it sets.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, moisture, and the dark color and deep flavor of the bread.
Cream of tartar: Acidifies the batter so it reacts with baking soda to help the bread rise.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the batter.

The step that matters

Combine the wet and dry ingredients until well mixed. Mixing the acidic and alkaline components together starts the leavening reaction, so the batter should be fully combined and baked promptly to get an even rise and crumb.

“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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Rhode Island Brown Bread