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 ↓
Boston Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Sift together cornmeal, rye meal, graham flour, and salt.
Dissolve baking soda in warm water and add to the mixture.
Stir in enough warm water to make a thin batter.
Steam and serve
Grease a can or three one-pound baking powder cans and fill with the batter.
Cover tightly and place in a kettle of cold water.
Boil for three hours from the time it begins to boil.
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.
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Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together804 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
- Provides the coarse, grainy body that gives the bread its structure.
- Rye meal
- Adds a dense, slightly tangy flavour and a moist, close crumb.
- Graham flour
- Contributes gluten-forming protein and a nutty, wholesome texture.
- New orleans molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour, and moisture to the finished loaf.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses's acidity to produce gas that lightens the batter.
The step that matters
Keeping the water boiling for the full three hours. Steaming cooks the batter gently and evenly; if the kettle boils dry or the water drops, the bread turns dense and underbaked in the middle, so the water level and heat must be maintained throughout.
“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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