Boston Brown Bread

 I was perusing a little, spiral bound cookbook titled Slow Cooking for Crock Enthusiasts.

Published in 1982 by G & R Publishing, it is a very unassuming little book.  There is no fanfare with it - once you open the cover pages, the index is next, then the recipes.  There is no author listed, no preface, just a "get down to business" attitude.

The recipes are typical of the very early '80s:  most of the beef recipes are made with ground beef, there are very few "trendy" ingredients, and the recipes are what I associate with solid, midwestern American cooking.  I see beef stew, baked chicken, rice pudding, Swiss steak, stewed tomatoes.  And I saw something that sparked a memory of my childhood:  Boston Brown Bread.

Most likely what I recalled tasting when I was a kid was brown bread from a can.  You can still buy it.  But I had a strong memory of what it tasted and felt like.  I wanted to try this at home.  Would my recall be correct?

Boston Brown Bread  (page 107)

1 cup corn meal

1 cup rye flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup molasses

2 cups buttermilk

Combine all dry ingredients.  Mix together buttermilk and molasses.  Add a little at a time to dry ingredients.  Stir enough to blend.  Place in 2 greased 1-pound coffee cans.  Cover with foil and tie foil down.  Place cans on metal rack in bottom of slow cooker.  Pour 2 cups hot water around cans.  Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Remove from cooker and let stand about 10 minutes before removing from cans.

My Notes

I mixed the dry ingredients in a big bowl and the wet ingredients in a large, glass measuring cup.

That made it easy to pour the wet ingredients into the dry while mixing.

The challenge today is getting metal coffee cans as most brands I've seen use either bags or plastic containers.  Fortunately, I already had some cans from long ago that I saved for such purposes.  They look rusty but once they were cleaned and greased (I used cooking spray), I did not worry about them.

My challenge was realizing the two cans won't fit in my crock pot.  But they did fit in a bigger kettle, with enough room that I could put the lid on the kettle. 

I started heating water in my tea kettle.

A test fit.

After I put half the batter into a can, I decided to add two handfuls of raisins to the other half.  My recall was that I loved the raisins.

Each can was filled to about the same height.  (Whew!)

Raisin on the left.

Then on with the foil and the ties, and into the kettle!  Two cups of water put enough to bring the level up to the bottom of the rack.

You can see the water in the bottom.

After the lid went on, I turned the heat onto medium high until steam started coming out, then I turned the heat down so that the steam was barely coming out.

Every 30 minutes or so I checked on the water level, replenishing with hot water as needed.

After 2 1/2 hours I decided (hoped) it was done.  The cans were removed and set on the counter to cool.  Then I used a narrow spatula to loosen the sides of the bread.  The loaves popped out of the cans easily.

The Verdict

I chose to sample the one with raisins.  Slicing it in the middle gave me a view that matched my recall.  I could see they were cooked all the way through, too.

I ate it plain and also tried it with a little cream cheese.

It tasted exactly as I remembered it!  Sweet from the raisins with a heavy, almost meaty texture or mouthfeel.  Rich with molasses flavor but not overwhelming.  This is a bold bread, not delicate at all.  The cream cheese was a good compliment.

This was easy to make and a good success. I think it would make a good sandwich bread (with or without the raisins) with ham or chicken and cheese, or as a breakfast bread.  But it also makes a good "just as a snack" bread.

More on Meatose

Today I took about 1/2 cup of the meatose, mashed it with a fork, then mixed in a few teaspoons of mayonnaise.  I mixed it until it was spreadable and moist.  Then I added some finely chopped dill pickles.  This made a great spread on crackers!  I think it would be a good sandwich spread, too.

Now that the meatose has been chilled, it comes across as a bit dry.  I think if I did a half recipe again, I would pull it out of the steamer after about 1 hr and 30 minutes, instead of 2 hours.  Or as soon as it seemed firm.

I wonder what else I can do with this?  : )

Peanut Meatose

Last year (an easy thing to say in January!), I visited the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento (http://www.csrmf.org).  In their museum store I discovered and purchased this book:  Rufus Estes' Good Things to Eat.  (Dover Publications)

Mr. Estes was born a slave in 1857, was employed by a restaurant-keeper at the age of 16, and then became a cook for the railroads at age 26, where he continued for most of the rest of his life.  His culinary skills were so valued that he was assigned to cook in a special car that catered to celebrities.  Mr. Estes prepared food for presidents, princesses, famous actors and singers, and more.  He was trusted to provide them with a good meal and, upon viewing his recipes, I can see that that trust was not misplaced. 

His book offers nearly 600 recipes and they made my mouth water when I read them.  Well, all but one.  It is called Peanut Meatose, found on page 47 in the Lunch section.

Here it is:

"Dissolve one cup of cornstarch in two cups of tomato juice, add two cups of peanut butter and two teaspoons of salt.  Stir for five minutes, the pour into cans and steam for four or five hours."

Peanut butter, tomato juice, salt, and cornstarch?

It sounded pretty icky to me, to be honest.  But after trying some tomato bread toasted and spread with peanut butter, I realized that the combination of tomato and peanut butter might just be fine.  At this point, I had to try it!

So here goes.  I decided to make a half recipe.  I gathered the ingredients, mixed as directed, and placed it into a ceramic container for steaming.

A quick double-check with The Joy of Cooking confirmed my thoughts that the container needed to sit on a rack over water.  The lid fit tightly so high heat got the water boiling and then a low heat kept the steam going.  I wasn't sure how fast the water would boil off or how quickly a half recipe would cook, so I checked in on it every 30 minutes.

The water never got low enough for me to refill the container.  After about an hour, the mixture looked puffy.  After two hours, it was solid and was pulling away from the sides of the container.  I deemed it "done."

I removed it from the hot water and let it cool for about an hour.  The mixture settled a bit when cooled.

The result?  It was firm and had a nice crumb and texture.  I spread it on crackers and ... and ... and it tasted pretty good!  The flavor was nutty with a light tomato undertaste.  I think it would be good spread on bread with a little mayonnaise and lettuce.

My curiosity was aroused:  Why "meatose"?  A Google search of the name reveals that it was a brand name in the late 19th century.  Basically this recipe provided a meat substitute based on nut proteins.  This was popular during the Victorian era, during a period called "Reform Cookery" where choosing foods to be more healthy was all in vogue.  You can think of this as Victorian tofu!

I think if I had steamed this in cans as Mr. Estes suggests, I could have pushed it out as a whole cylinder and then sliced it for serving.

The Verdict:  I would do this recipe again, especially to serve to unsuspecting victims, uh, cheerful guests, to surprise them with something new and unique.