I thought of making Boston Brown Bread because I'd been keen to try making it for a while and knew it had molasses in it. Then I started suspecting it wasn't the only regional recipe to involve molasses and I was right - Boston Baked Beans also makes heavy use of molasses, as does Indian Pudding. The Boston-molasses connection, it turns out, is through the Triangle Trade and alcohol production. Apparently slaves were shipped from Africa to South American sugar plantations, then sugar and molasses were shipped to New England to be distilled into rum or other alcohol (hence the huge molasses storage tank and the disaster), then the alcohol (and ice, to make up the weight) was shipped to Europe and elsewhere (including back to Africa, completing the triangle).
Quite a series of connections. I made a Brown Bread and a vegetarian Baked Beans (usually it has salted pork or bacon in it).
(based on this recipe, although I used the flour mix recommended here and this recipe also looked good)
(I used the in-oven cooking method written out below, as opposed to the stove-top steamer method, due to the fact my coffee can was too tall for my steaming apparatus)
I first came across Boston Brown Bread at P's house in New Hampshire - my friend G and his uncle P are from a big New England Irish family, and P had half a can of brown bread in the fridge left over from a fry-up. I'd never seen anything like it before: bread in a can?! But, bread packed with molasses and wholewheat and raisins - sounds like something I'd love (and similar to a malted tealoaf)!
Butter for greasing loaf pans or coffee cans
1/2 cup (heaping) wholemeal flour
1/2 cup (heaping) rye flour
1/2 cup (heaping) finely ground corn meal (must be finely ground)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup molasses (any kind - I used blackstrap)
1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 cup almond milk with 1 tsp cider vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
One metal 6-inch tall by 4-inch diameter coffee can, or a 4x8 loaf pan (used a coffee can)
Heat the oven to 325F and boil a full kettle of water (to do oven steaming method). Or heat oven to 350F (for oven baking method - use loaf tin).
Grease the tin with butter. In a large bowl, mix the wholemeal flour, rye flour, corn meal, baking powder and bicarb, salt and allspice. Add the raisins if using.
In another bowl, mix together the milk and vanilla essence (if using). Whisk in the molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir well with a spoon.
Pour the batter into the tin taking care that the batter not reach higher than 2/3 up the sides of the container.
Oven steaming method:
Cover the tin tightly with foil and tie in place with string. Put the prepared tin into a high-sided oven-proof pan that can hold water up to 1/3 the height of the tin. Pour boiling water into the pan until it reaches 1/3 up the side of the tin. Put the pan into the oven. Steam the bread for at least 2 hours and 15 minutes. Check to see if the bread is done by inserting a skewer (or thin metal knitting needle) into it. If the skewer comes out clean, you're ready. If not, re-cover the tin and cook for up to another 45 minutes (I ended up cooking it for the extra time but I think it would also have been fine earlier).
Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before putting on a rack. Let the bread cool for 1 hour before turning out of the tin (it turned out quite easily, although the edges were soft from condensation and I wondered if it wasn't done yet, once turned out and fully cooled it was totally good).
Oven baking method:
Put loaf tin in oven (at 350F) and cover the top with a baking tray. Bake for ~45-50 min, until it is coming away from the sides and a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the tin.
This also worked well in muffin form (I like this form because they're easy to freeze and defrost in portions): I filled four cups down each side of my muffin tin (8 total), and filled the middle cups with water / put an oven dish of water in the bottom of the oven to stop it drying out - this might have been overkill. Bake for ~25 min at 350F.
Slice and eat plain, or toast in a little butter in a frying pan.
Boston Baked Beans
(based on this recipe, being the tastiest sounding veggie version I came across... there are an awful lot of variants out there)
The molasses contains lots of sugar and calcium (as well as iron, magnesium and potassium) - apparently these are what allow you to cook the beans for so long without them collapsing.
I have never eaten real Boston baked beans, veggie or otherwise, so don't know what this should turn out like. Still, feels right to eat Boston baked beans at least once while living in Beantown.
1 1/2 cups yellow eyed or navy beans, with water to cover (I used ~ 4 1/2 cups pre-cooked kidney and black-eyed beans)
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (I used turbinado)
2 tbsp ground mustard (used ground white mustard seeds)
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp paprika
2 large onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
16 oz tin chopped tomatoes
1/3 cup tomato puree
1/2 cup molasses (used ~1/3 cup blackstrap - was running out of molasses!)
1/4 cup cider vinegar
Heat the oil in a high-sided frying pan and add onion. Cover and fry until softened and starting to brown. Add garlic and salt and cook for a few more minutes. Defrost beans if frozen, then add the beans, tinned tomatoes and tomato puree to the pan and mix. Mix the brown sugar, mustard, nutmeg and paprika in a small bowl, then add to the pan along with the molasses and mix. Add vinegar last and stir. Cover and put in oven for about 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Check for liquid level, adding a bit of water if mixture is too thick or drying out. Uncover and cook an additional 15 minutes.
Really like the texture of the beans - nice and firm. In general a good balance of spiced, sweet and salty.
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