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Actually thank you for this. I’ve always heard of the molasses flood but it never made sense. I mean, how can you drown in molasses, that’d take an insane amount of…oh near a million gallons? 15 foot high wave?! It was HOT?! This turned what has been a chuckle eliciting history note into a horrifying recap of gross negligence that we couldn’t fathom today. Trapped in amber like a mosquito. Pulled a man’s arm off, god.
And it was rather fast, too. About 35mph. So "slow as molasses in January" isn't really all that slow. If you don't mind some silliness and gallows humor, "Puppet History" on the Watcher RU-vid channel did an episode on this a while back.
Similar things happen today. Just look at how one ship getting stuck cost the entire world 60 billion dollars. In 50 years, kids will be talking about how silly that is. Big events only seem big with hindsight or seem more ridiculous the further out you get from them. Like when America almost accidentally nuked North Carolina. It seems funny now but no one was laughing when the bomb fell and two out of three safety mechanisms failed. Just look at how many comedies have been made about horrific events.
Every once in a while I watch Tasting history with Maximus Millery, I always get reminded that Macks Millen always lives up to his name as Maximilian Maller. But at the end of the day, Mark Smiller is just simply himself, simply known as Marx Myllor
Hey Mickey, Bostonian here. I was raised primarily just over the bridge from the North End and grew up eating this. I’d actually advise against adding more of the baking soda. A modern recipe might call for more, but this isn’t a modern recipe. This was (and still is) intended to be eaten largely as a meal, a couple slices for breakfast as an example. It’s something you’d have as a bedtime snack too. This bread is supposed to be quite dense. You heat before serving and butter is a common topping but cream cheese is equally popular. If you’re doing cream cheese let the butter melt, then add the cream cheese on top. It’s a dense bread so you don’t want to eat it dry, best to add the butter and lots of it.
As a Massachusetts native and someone born in Boston, we had this to try in history class while learning about the molasses incident but it was also common, though a fading tradition to have this style of bread at a seasonal meal usually during the colder months. I myself have not had this in ages but I would love to try this again especially with a historical recipe such as this. I've been loving the content that you've been making for some time now, keep it up!
In my neighborhood, in the 60's we had hot dogs, baked beans and brown bread, every Saturday night. Everyone did. Usually B and M baked beans and brown bread. Which was just fine, they are both good examples of the real thing. But it was unwavering, inflexible. I used to imagine that it was some kind of State law.
Interesting. I had not had it until I saw it featured in an Old German Brethren (similar to Mennonite) bakery fairly recently, and I thought it was great! Their recipe reminded me of something that would be readily used for the holidays as it was very hearty and just slightly sweet.
When I was a kid we would occasionally eat "brown dinner" which was canned bread, baked beans and bacon. We would first slice the bread, toast it on my Mom's cast iron pan and smother it in butter. Honestly I think we loved it so much for the silliness of bread being in a can and the amounts of butter we were able to get away with eating 😅
OMG I grew up eating this too! My mom was from Rhode Island and she said it's a regional thing. LOL I love this bread and cannot find it anywhere in Washington.
As a resident of the Boston area, I love it when history people mention the Molassacre. The phrase "slower than molasses in January" was coined after the incident, though I bet most people who use it don't know how fast it was actually traveling.
Funny thing is. Molasses were one of the commodities that their then British overlords unfairly taxed the residents of the colony on in one of the "Intolerable Acts" that eventually led to the revolution. It's amazing to see how deep Boston's history is stuck to molasses.
Most of my immediate relatives are from CHelsea, Massachusetts, where some random corners of the town still smell of molasses on a hot summer day. And they stockpile of molasses was meant to be used to make rum for the "triangular trade". (slaves, sugarcane, rum, slaves). And molasses is not only a key ingredient in Boston brown bread, but also in Boston baked beans, which my great-grandmother was famous for. (You're supposed to eat brown bread with baked beans.) And many other "colonial" recipes rely on molasses and baking soda for sweetness and leavening.)
My great-grandmother lived in the North End as a child. She and her sister would have been walking right by the tank on the way home from school for lunch when the tank let go. She always told the story that her younger sister got in to some sort of trouble that morning and if it wasn't for the teacher keeping her sister after they got let out to speak to her, they would most likely have been killed. She also told stories about them collecting molasses from the leaks and how the city would smell of molasses on hot days. I also loved watching in fascination as my mother would open the can of B & M Brown bread as a kid! You just don't expect to see bread when you open a can! Wicked good recounting of the events and thanks for all you do!
Damn, that's gnarly. I love stories where a little mishap saves people from big disasters. That's so cool that you got to go through this and witness a part of your countries history.
My mom used to make this. She kept a couple large apple juice cans on hand just for this purpose. We'd have it with homemade baked beans. I'm not from Boston, but my grandparents lived there in the 1920's, which is how I ended up inheriting the 1924 edition of Fannie Farmer's cookbook. Thanks for sparking my memories, Max 😊
canned brown bread and baked beans are like a staple here in maine. stuffs deviously good but most people from out of state get turned off at the idea of canned bread and never want to try it. ive invited many out of state friends to a traditional bean hole cookout(regional way of cooking baked beans adapted from native american bean cooking methods). they love the baked beans but never go within 20 feet of the brown bread.
@@AngelavengerL its something that needs to be done outside and takes a full night and most of the following day. while i would love to see him try its not exactly the best method of cooking for a youtube video. its basically slow cooking them in a large buried pot over smoldering coals and it takes a bit of practice to make the hole and bury the beans in a way that does not smother the coals out completely.
My mum has made this for years -usually with walnuts and dates. We called it date-nut bread and would eat it in the mornings, refrigerated, with a cold slab of butter on it. My wife thought this sounded really offputting, but was open to try it since I made the case for it really cutting the sticky sweetness of the dates -now I can't keep the stuff in the house.
I’ve lived in Boston for 20-ish years and I’ve heard the story of the Molasses flood 100 different ways- but I LOVE the way you tell it. Thanks for repping my adopted home & my favorite city. There’s HEAPS of weird history here!
@@swampfire6600 I'd imagine it would taste like gross polluted sea water. Even right after the tea was thrown in it would still just be sea water. The ocean is huge and the water moves around a lot. Any tea that was thrown in was likely ruined by the saltwater in minutes. In the 250 years since I'd be surprised if any of the wood boxes even remain. Apparently only 2 boxes were ever recovered and they were found a day or so after the Tea Party.
@@swampfire6600 don’t listen to Kx, Boston Harbor actually tastes like a refined Earl Grey with a little pinch of salt. Personally I think the fish poo helps with the flavor
Yes indeed!! Lots of weird history. I lived in Beverly, MA and my dad lived in Beverly. He was young, but recalled it all. We took the train to do errands in Boston.He show3d me where the tank was and you could smell molasses back in the early sixties!!!
It's probably worth pointing out that modern cans (at least in the UK) tend to have a plastic coating on the inside to prevent metallic flavours. You probably want to check before using a random can for baking!
You are correct to caution others. Modern cans are lined with epoxies that contain BPA and other harmful chemicals that will be released when heated. The pasteurization process commercially used is below that dangerous temperature. Better to purchase a modern springform pan for aking or cooking.
Thank You! this was my first thought when he said his can held beans. At least it wasn't tomatoes? (which are ALL in BPA cans thanks to the high acid content) but now I'm wondering if a wide mouth glass mason jar would work? Since spring form pans would need a lid and have multiple leak points...
My mom told me once that when she was little (1950s), her grandmother (born about 1900) used to buy bread in a can that was dense and sweet. I had a hard time believing her! Turns out, they were eating brown bread. Old new England family, from Bangor, Maine. I bet my great grandmother knew about the Boston molasses flood. Thanks for yet another excellent food history lesson!
We had it with cream cheese and baked beans. My grandmother did not cover the cans and sliced the loaf with a looped string! She also substituted buttermilk with “sour milk”, ie milk with a little vinegar to curdle it.
OH MY GOD This is VERY close to what my grandmother used to make at Christmas and I had NO IDEA what it was called until this video! My family used to just call it Nana's Christmas loaf and I don't think I was googling the right terms to find it. Wow, I'm really excited to make this! Thank you!
"nana's christmas loaf" I see you're a person of culture also. I called mine "nana bread" My grandma near the end of her life didn't like to make it not because of the work but the cans were harder to find as a lot of places are moving to plastic. Mom shares the same issue.
My great Grandmother used to make her pumpkin bread in coffee cans with a bunch of molasses, walnuts and raisins in it. This must be where she learned that. I always wondered about it, cause I'd never seen anyone else do it that way.. it was super dense and moist. What a tragic story about the molasses flood. Yikes! I love Tasting History. Its one my teenage daughter and I watch together often. ❤️
Boston didn't have a monopoly on methods to make bread. A more logical explanation is that many families didn't have the money to buy dedicated cake pans during the depression. They used what they had on hand, which was a can. They did it down south, too and families that I know for a fact that never stepped foot anywhere in the northern half of the country and long before Ellis Island existed.
I always had brown bread when I was a kid (1960s) but hardly anyone I know even remembers it. It was always served with Boston Baked Beans poured on top. The other canned product we made was plum pudding. (It used raisins, not plums.) That seems to be making a comeback, sometimes called Christmas pudding.
THANK YOU FOR COVERING THE GREAT MOLASSES FLOOD! As a Massachusetts native, this is one of my favorite local histories to tell people who’ve never heard about it. Always get gasps of horror when people learn that they painted the structure brown to hide the leaks. Thank you for taking the time to honor this history and make some delicious bread in a can!
We learned about it in my 3rd grade class, but we were in Florida, and of course it was kiddified a bit so we read the children's book. My teacher even had molasses for us to try. For years I just thought it was fiction lol. |D;;
The molasses flood is one of my favorite historical disasters. Absolutely horrifying, but also absurd in concept and circumstance. Glad you covered this event, and I just might try the brown bread recipe too.
@@Guidje I am a North American and until I watched a mini dog about this on RU-vid about a year ago, I had NEVER heard about the great Monastery flood. We weren't taught that in school, that I remember.
As a nephew of a survivor. I've heard the story atleast once a year for 30ish years until he passed. I first thought it was a story he told but found out it's true and respected the next time more for it. Unfortunately years later my grandma would perish at the cocoanut grove fire not far from the molasses flood. r.i.p. love u guys
My mother's former babysitter, one of a pair of twins, died in the fire. It was a terrible, terrible thing, and I am so sorry that it took your family member.
@@mrc0201 scariest part was uncle Joe died in the vendome fire as firefighter decades later. I'm convinced of the 3s principle. Thanks for the best wishes
I just want to say that not only do I appreciate the high quality of your videos, but also the enthusiasm and care you have in sharing your sponsors- it’s a kind and respectable gesture that just adds to the overall warmth and value of the clips. Thank you, Max Miller!!!
Max, this was great. All of my childhood from the late 40-s to 1960 we had Boston baked beans (with a chunk of salt pork and molasses) baked in a brown pot and brown bread every Saturday night dinner. My mother, who cooked almost everything from scratch actually did buy the brown bread in a can as shown. I'm guessing she didn't like it, but she did make Indian Pudding which might make a good episode. I found a recipe in my 1953 edition of Joy of Cooking. It has 3/4 c molasses and 3 T of sugar; her note says you can use 1 c of molasses and no sugar. My dad was born and brought up in Haverhill, MA. He was born in 1905 so surely he must have heard about this and I don't recall him ever mentioning it.
Please Max do an Indian pudding episode, the two have some of the same ingredients. Julia Child and Jeff Smith (The frugal gourmet) cookbooks are a good place to start with for receipts (recipes) ... With love from a homesick Massachusetts resident living in the desert South West.
If you're going to make Indian pudding you need to follow the durgin-park recipe. It gets its name from the corn which folks called Indian corn, not because it was a native American dish.
Your dad may have skipped mentioning it because it was such a horror. I read a first-person account of it a few years ago, and it was a punch to the heart. 😭
@@HarryHawk - I went to Durgin Park once. Fun & tasty! There used to be a take-out place in Wellfleet MA on Cape Cod that made simple, but good, non-greasy shore fare. Each take-away box had watermelon and Indian pudding on the side. (It is now a delicious French bakery owned by a baker who actually came from France. So, lose-win?)
Bean Supper! A great New England tradition that's been dying out, just like our dropped 'r.' Some of my favorite memories are having a bean supper in the American Legion Hall.
Fun fact: aluminum cans are lined with plastic to keep the metal from reacting with the food. Most plastic lining contains BPA as a plasticizer (expensive organic brands may use BPA-free liner, and always brag about it on thr label). BPA leeches into fat more effectively than water, and does so most effectively when heated. So putting this recipe in that type of can with butter against the plastic and steaming for hours is a great way to get some really nasty stuff into your food. Using a mould, tin or pan designed for baking is by far the safest way to go. Just wanted to put this here for anyone considering making this recipe.
I watched a science experiment video where the guy literally proved this. It was pretty amazing and indeed disintegrate the aluminum and show the plastic.
@@christanice well, to be fair it depends on what the can will eventually hold, there are lacquer, polymer, and boa based polymers that I guess you could call plastic. But they are all sprayed in. The cans are also cleaned with some pretty nasty chemicals (then rinsed) to remove all impurities before they are coated and printed. Tin cans (steel or tin coated steel) have a wider variety of coatings internally and externally with epoxy resin being the most common
I grew up eating brown bread from the can you showed....great with cream chese. Not easy to find in stores as it once was. My mother loved it and it brings back great memories...it often was in my lunch bag growing up. I will look for it again!❤
I must say I had a bit of a chuckle when you said that the molasses may have sweetened the tea in Boston Harbour. I can't imagine how terrible this disaster was and how horrifying it was for the people and animals caught up in it. The cleanup must have been like an endless, grueling task.
Many people actually went into the streets to try licking up the molasses, similarly to the flood of alcohol that occurred around the same time period.
In finland we have Setsuuri bread. Setsuuri's name comes from the Swedish words söt and sur, sour and sweet. It usually had both equal part of rye and wheat flour. In sugar it uses dark syryp. the old days, bakeries were valued according to the kind of setsuri they baked. The amounts of cumin, anise, fennel and seville orange peel in the bread were closely guarded secrets.
I watch youtube CONSTANTLY. And this is one of the very best cooking channels out there. You could be on the history channel with that voice and writing ability. Well done MAX! Keep em coming
My mom's people were New Englanders, and she often made this. It's basically a British pudding -- which is my dad's culture, so this met his approval. The smell of them steaming infused the entire house on winter days. I still remember those tin cans; very unique. When I got my first apartment I too made them from time to time, but it's been decades now. Too many, now I think of it... Thanks for the video!
As an engineer from the Boston area, I find it so amusing and satisfying that I learned so much about the Boston molasses incident from your channel! You'd think I would have learned more about it before now, but no! Thank you!
This recipe gives me nostalgia of my childhood.When I was a teenager, I had a a way of enjoying this bread. I used to buy them in mini loaves shape wrap in cellophane at a shop nearby. I consumed them with maple fudge or chocolate fudge and pecan butter. In the fall and around Christmas time i'd drink spiced apple cider to wash it down.
My grandmother was a kindergarten teacher and part of her activities curriculum was setting up a sand table with little houses and pouring molasses from a hill in the sand to teach about viscosity. She was so brilliant when it came to making science projects palatable for small children.
These fun experiments that kids will enjoy and remember are an importart part of childhood science education. You need to get kids hooked on how much fun science can be, before you get them bogged down in physics equations. I remember an early teacher like your grandmother (maybe year 4 or 5, I was about 9/10 years old) bringing a canister of liquid nitrogen and a couple of bouquets of roses into class. We froze the roses (1 at a time, with her standing right next to the person doing it), and we each got one to take home until it defrosted. We also smashed a few. They become incredibly brittle once flash frozen. She also told us about the panspermia theory of life spreading from one world to another. She kindled my fascination with science, and I ended up studying physics in college. Took a career change, and I'm now a butcher, but I am still in love with science, and keep learning more in my own time just for fun.
@@Pro_Butcher_Amateur_Human Yes. People want kids (especially girls) to show interest in STEM fields, but instead of making the subjects interesting and *fun,* they mostly seem to try appealing to prestige and income. And that's when they're trying to appeal to *anything* instead of just talking about how kids should show more interest in STEM fields.
I grew up Irish Catholic with parents from New England, and in those days we didn't eat meat on Fridays. B & M baked beans and brown bread featured frequently, with cod fish cakes or fish sticks on the side. My Dad would put a slice of bread down on his plate, and put the beans on top of it, and eat it with a knife and fork. And I still have my Mother's copy of The Boston Cooking School cookbook. Thanks, Max.
I am a young Orthodox Christian in America, and we fast from meat and dairy on Wednesdays and Fridays, in reverence of Christ's betrayal and Crucifixion. Ajd that isn't counting the Christmas and Easter Lenten fasts! I know Irish Orthodox converts too.
As a native Bostonian who grew up eating brown bread in a can, I feel so seen and validated right now! 😂 Although nobody I knew growing up made it homemade, we usually got it at the grocery store. I think the brand is called B&M! And its not a super common thing people eat anymore. I grew up in Boston in the late 90s/early 2000s and my family was pretty low income. Brown bread in a can was part of our weekly meal rotation because it was so cheap. My parents would make boiled hotdogs with baked beans and brown bread from a can because we couldn't afford much else growing up. Thankfully their income and cooking skills increased as I got older and I'm lucky enough as an adult to be considered middle class but I'm still pretty fond of the brown bread myself! I should go buy some.
Max, I am enthralled with your channel. You combine 2 of my great loves; history and cooking! I have even showed your videos to my 13-year old son who loves to cook, as well. We really enjoy snuggling up and watching your videos (thanks for keeping them G rated!) hey, if you’re ever looking for a series idea, I always thought it would be fascinating to explore depression-era recipes. My grandma lived through the depression and she had some odd recipes!
I really appreciate the amount of effort Matt Myers and Joey put into this channel. It's so interesting and entertaining. I miss seeing Jammy and Cerise though. What foods has Jammy stolen recently? Keep up the good work, Matt and Joey! ❤️😁😆
I love your videos Marcus McMillan. You're such a food history nerd and it's the gosh darn best thing to watch. But really, you can't ever stop making these.
I love this! Not only did we have canned brown bread every Saturday with frankfurters and beans, my mom had a Fannie Farmer's cookbook (updated edition I'm sure) Gonna have to keep an eye out for your videos - a history lesson with a snack.
As someone who grew up eating canned Boston brown bread (and molasses on everything) because of how close we were to Boston, I cannot tell you the levels of nostalgic joy I got from this video. The fact that you reused a can instead of a traditional mold! Great little Easter egg.
My father's family is from New England and brown bread and baked beans were a staple in my house growing up. The first time I opened a can of brown bread (both ends open and slide it out) and heated it for a meal, my husband (who is from Florida) stood there with a really surprised look on his face. He'd never heard of such a thing. I still love warm brown bread with lots of butter. Oh, yeah!
I'm originally from New England, and have actually had people in other states all over the country ask me to bring some cans along for a visit, because they heard about it somewhere and just couldn't wrap their heads around such a thing existing. So I did as asked, and everyone who asked for it became fans. They might still think it's weird as hell, but they also often eat it more quickly than I do.
Yeah, growing up in new england, I was baffled to find out that every kid didn't grow up with it. :D It was a staple on the meal rotation in my house. (And my favorite part of that meal.)
max-thanks for covering brown bread. i grew up on the stuff. sometimes made with dates, usually currants or raisins. i’ve seen it with some honey added. we always ate it with fish cakes and beans, but also always had it in the house. i loved to butter it and grill it in a skillet, then spread with some cream cheese.
My grandmother just saved From the flood. She was on her way to the North End and was on Copps Hill. Wouldn't be here if she had been a little earlier My dad who is in his 90s tells me as a kid you could still small the Molasses. Steve Puleo's book Dark Tide is terrific (Frankly, all his books are meticulously researched and well written)
I heard about people smelling the molasses for years afterward. I thought it was crazy, but I guess with the amount that was expelled a good amount seeped into the ground.
@@daniellemhall1358 The stuff is real tough once it dries in so if it gets into some cranny which nobody knew to clean, it's not going anywhere soon, and when it gets warm enough in summer it'll let off some fumes. God, they must have had so many ants.
Being one of the “grittier” people 😎 we had baked beans, hot dogs and brown bread for most Saturday night suppers in my childhood. Haven’t had it in years but you’ve got me hungry for some right now. Thank you, Max.
Hot dogs IN the buns or without? I can't remember from my childhood very well, not that mine "matters" that much. Also, a side of buttered corn: opinions?
One of the ways bakers added more sweetness was by mixing moistened raisins into the batter. I loved eating brown bread with raisins as a child, on its own or as part of a meal, i.e., baked beans with ham or bacon, and squash or carrots on the side. Very economical, too.
I have to say, I usually have no patience for long videos, but you really do capture and keep the attention of your viewers well. Keep up the good work, Mill Maxer!
All hail Fanny Farmer! Fanny is an interesting historical character: She is the "Mother of the Level Tablespoon." Her cookbook, The Boston School of Cooking, was the first US cookbook to use "American Freedom Units." She is the reason why we use cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons instead of the metric system. 😃
@ragnkja Australia uses cup and spoon measures too, metric ones, where one cup is 250mls. I am not sure the exact measure of teaspoons and tablespoons, but I am glad you mentioned them.
I’ve heard the molasses flood story a lot over the years, having family ties to the Boston area. Max, your telling of the story is by far my favorite version to listen to! 😄
I grew up in Boston in the 60's and early 70's. We weren't even middle class. Every Saturday was hot dogs, baked beans and canned brown bread for dinner. The brown bread was sliced and fried in a cast iron pan with butter. Not the healthiest but crispy on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside. I get warm fuzzies remembering that. Haven't had any in decades.
Ooh, hadn't thought of that, but the history of Cajun and Creole folk is almost as rich and interesting as their food! Dang, now I want to visit New Orleans again, been a few years...
@@TastingHistory ooh, that would be great, big fan of cajun/creole cuisine. Would love to see what you come up with from a historical perspective and with what dish. Look forward to when you do it. [How do they get your name wrong, it's in the title, silly people, Marcus-lol]
About 50 years ago when i was a kid, you could buy this in a can at the grocery store. It was my favourite treat my mother brought home every few weeks. The novelty of opening a cake with a can opener always fascinated me.
I'm 62 and we often had the stuff in the can with baked beans or cheese. Hadn't had it in decades and when I tried it I found it so sweet, so beware. I'm definitely trying this recipe. Nostalgia food is the best!
My favorite part of Tuesday is watching a new video from Matt Milner. I love the history and the recipes. And Mike Mixner is such a great host (clack clack). I hope everyone watching subscribes to Mark Kellermans channel! 😀
My grandmother was originally from Boston and she used to make this brown bread all the time for us, she must have added sugar, and i know she added rasins, cause the bread was sweet, and the rasins were like little hidden treasures inside...I just loved this bread as a little girl...haven't had it since...So, thank u for this recipe...anyone who hasn't tried it, should, its fantastic, moist and sweet...has a flavor of its own.. .for me, its the memories too.
Such high quality videos every time. To the point where I don’t understand how you’re not on the actual history channel. Well done max, thank you for satisfying my curiosity for historical foods
To be fair, the history channel hasn't aired anything remotely historical in around 20 years. Max would totally throw off their vibe; entirely too much actual content.
I grew up in New England and the elders always used to talk about how sweet the air smelled in Boston especially during the Summer because of this very tragedy. I also grew up on brown bread and always reach for it on Thanksgiving when everyone is reaching for their floury dinner rolls. Molasses has always been a staple in my childhood home, supposedly for it's health benefits and also because it was cheap and could be added to just about anything. Like stuffed acorn squash, which is also a Thanksgiving treat. =)
I grew up in Boston, and we ate brown bread (from a can):weekly growing up, often as a side with franks and beans. Haven’t tasted it in at least 35 years
My father was 11 years old when the molasses flood happened - he was living in Revere at the time. He said the neighborhood looked like a bomb had gone off. He remarked that the smell lasted for years and that people in the neighborhood were pretty traumatized by the whole thing. Now nobody remembers anything about it because it was so long ago.
Thanks Matthias, really been loving watching your work while I cook my dinner ever night! You’re a real one, Maximillian Maximus the Magnificent Maker of Molasses.
Often watch this with my parents. My dad is in his 80s now but this episode triggered a memory of his, saying that back in montreal he definitely ate this style of brown bread. Scent and taste really are the sharpest senses.
Molasses, molasses: It's stickey, Ickey goo; Molasses, molasses: It always sticks to you! As a historian, and many years Bostonian, I loved your Boston brown bread / Molasses flood video. And I, at 80-plus, still make my own brown bread, using the basic traditional Fanny Farmer recipe, adding, as you suggest a little baking powder, and getting the added sweetness by adding a handful of raisins or sultanas to the batter. (Please pardon my prefacing this comment with a bit of related dogerel from my childhood which I was told came from the great molasses dissaster.)
@@seronymus : Yes, I am 82, still active professionally, and I still like to cook -- not so actively as in yesteryears of course, but I can still produce a decent meal and yummy deserts (I learned pastry baking -- and Boston brown bread -- long ago from my mother, who was the Best). The trick to remaining vital, for me at least, is to keep trying new things and experimenting with the old. That's one reason I take great delight in Tasting History. While I have no children of my own, I have been a teacher all my life; and like Max Miller, have tried to make history and culture vitally interesting. Indeed, the most gratifying words a student (youth or adult) can say to me are: "I never before knew history could be so interesting!". (And God bless you, too!)
@@garywait3231, you remind me of my American History teacher from about 45 years ago. He truly loved his subject and never failed to make the lesson interesting.
@@garywait3231 Thank you for the heartfelt response Gary. I'm 24. I have been admittedly in a rut for a long time, feeling insecure and nervous of my own skills, and to try new things and practice and focus (practicing art, research in various fields, even some cooking haha). It's caused harm to me and those I care about. So when I read stories like yours, it helps me keep perspective, and most importantly, hope. I know it must seem ridiculous then I act like I am too late for a lot of things, haha. I'm sure you're an excellent baker and wish I could try. I pray you have many more wonderful years and you get to record more of your life, you seem a very interesting elder. If I could ask one thing: I'm sure you had your own low points in life. What kept you going, or perhaps, what helps you even now to "get the ball rolling" and dive into things? Anything is much appreciated, and thank you.
@@seronymus : Thank you for your kind and frank but poignant response. I can identify with your situation as I have had a life-long battle with depression myself, as did my mother, from whom I learned my cooking skills, as well as so many cultural values, like music, a love of reading, writing, etc. One of the most valuable things she tought me was never to give up. Life has its share of failures and disappointments for all of us (unaccountably for some of us more than others) Mother had her share, and so have I. It can do a number on your self esteem and self confidence. But failures need not be fatal -- unless one let's them be. I think, for example of how very many materials -- hundreds of them -- Edison tried before he found one that finally proved to be a successful filament for his electric light bulb. I have had some spectacular cooking failures, and have delivered some less than fascinating lectures. That is discouraging -- but not fatal: try, I have to tell myself, try again, maybe adjusting the ingredients, or using different liiustrative material in the lecture that flopped. There is also the tendency in persons like ourselves, when things don't seem to succeed, to feel sorry for ourselves. That is a sure path to depression. At times like that, I try to get out of myself. There are always persons in my sphere who also have challenges, suffer disappointments, or are struggling with depression. I find that if I can forget myself enough (and it isn't always easy) to help them bear their burden, even in a small or simple way, my gloom brightens at the same time -- for then I feel useful and worthwhile. I suspect that you may find that a helpful technique. It may not come easily at first, and you may initially feel awkward. But it's worth the effort. Please pardon the rambling of a garilous old man. One last word: try to look forward with hope, not backward with regret.
SO glad I found you! My Dad used to make this bread for me all the time when I was young, it was my absolute favourite and unfortunately he passed so I had no idea what it was called or how to make it. I only knew he made it in a can and I remembered the molasses being out every time he made it. You’re a blessing, thank you so very much from Ontario 🇨🇦❣️💋💖🦋
My cousin told a story about a mutual friend who drove for a molasses company. He, the story goes, was running double books and was as tight as a banjo string. When he went across the weigh station scales, they told him he was overweight. His response was to go around to the spigot, open it wide, and say "Let me know when I'm legal." I could never get him to confirm or deny the story.
In Great Britain they would probably call this "Steamed Boston Brown Pudding". Speaking of Great Britain's steamed puddings, I would like to suggest a history of Sticky Toffey Pudding. Most say that it was invented in the 1970s in northern GB, but there are debates on this as the (Canadian) soldiers who supposedly were at the inn at which it was invented, this delight (yes, I have made this and it is delicious) was requested because they were homesick for a pudding from home. The Black Treacle, IMO, is simply another version of molasses.
@@handlesarefeckinstupidWhen a vegetarian visitor came for Christmas my mother made a steamed pudding using vegetable fat, and discovered that the result was actually lighter and more palatable, and instantly switched.
The way you edit, and draw people in is incredible. I have been trying to take little notes from you for my upcoming gardening channel. THANK YOU SIR, for the information, inspiration, education, and entertainment!!
Learning the story of the Great Molasses Flood has the same energy as when people learn the full story of the woman who sued McDonald's for spilling hot coffee on herself.
My Nana used to bake bread in a can and yes, she used walnuts and raisins. I'm not sure if she used sugar because Pop couldn't have too much sugar. She was also extremely frugal because people from her generation had to pinch pennies to survive, so she wouldn't have added any extra baking soda, or powder either. Really good warmed up with lots of fresh butter, either way!
If you don't want to worry about the plastic coatings they sometimes put in cans you can do what I did, go to your local restaurant supply store and buy a couple of the seamless stainless steel cylinders they sell for holding cutlery on a food service line. Easier to clean too, and they make bigger loaves.
I remember my mom & dad buying the Boston Brown Bread in a can. Mom always served it with cream cheese. Quite a good video, thanks for the memories💕👏👏👏
Simple things can be dangerous. Cutting corners leading to this tragedy has not been a lesson learnt. The bread looks awesome! Almost like an English pudding in method, too! Thank you for the video, Mack!
Yes, very like a steamed pudding. The method and use of cans is novel today and makes it quite fun to make. I made this frequently as a youngster (from the Fanny Farmer cookbook, no less!) especially for my dad, who was raised in the Boston area. Raisins--do include raisins. They become moist sweet inclusions in the otherwise slightly bitter bread. The butter makes it magical. Orange marmalade is an additional perfect topping. By the way, if it's difficult to remove the breads from their baking cans, use the can opener on the bottom lid and push the lid and bread through from the bottom. Indian Pudding is another New England treat I made for Dad, also from the FF cookbook. It's a custard made with corn meal and molasses, and traditionally served with hard sauce, which is very much like frosting.
I used to love it when my mom made brown bread. It was generally served with Boston baked beans and hot dogs. I'm pretty sure she didn't make it from scratch. I will say that I am a huge fan of the Fanny Farmer cook book - I made many things from that. Great video!
The bread looks appetising with the chunk of butter! It reminds me of Soreen malt loaf. Thank you for the history behind this recipe, I never heard of it before.
I'm so glad you did a brown bread episode!! My family all moved to the west coast in my parents' lives, but this is one of the foods they brought with them. We can never find it here!
I buy mine on Amazon when I can find it there. I think it comes in bulk with 8 or 10 cans. The local groceries in my small town never have it. I have found it on Walmart with 3 day shipping in the past but the shipping on Amazon was free with Prime. I should definitely try making my own with the recipe Max used but add more leavening, sugar, raisins and walnuts or pecans. Yum! Thank you Mr. Max Miller, love your content.
This is one of the comfort foods from my childhood. We knew it as Bean Bread as it always accompanied Boston Baked Beans. I still make it today, although with my mother's recipe. If you do not have cans, I found a stainless steel silverware holder at the restaurant supply. Be sure to buy at the supply store as they are real stainless, not just coated with it.
Mine too. My mother always put cream cheese on it. Nobody in the family was from Boston but her mom was a very good cook who tried new recipes all the time.
@@zbuglady ooh cream cheese sounds really good with this. It reminds me a lot of traditional Irish brown breads or something like Bara Brith without the raisins or tea. That kind of malty wholewheat bread that's kind of sweet but not really is an Irish, Cornish, and Welsh staple so I'd bet it came from there originally and was adapted for the American ingredients (eg using molasses instead of treacle, and adding cornmeal).
Dear Max, as someone who has had their name messed up often, I feel for you. Clearly, your followers have a good sense of humor. About the Boston bread, growing up in South Africa, we had something called a Boston loaf. It was a sweet, fruity round loaf that we ate sliced, spread with butter with tea.
I have to go out and get some Boston brown bread. I haven't had any in at least fifty years. When I was 15 my first job was at a Howard Johnson's restaurant. They sold cans of Boston brown bread, to go, it was one of my favorites I would take it home and warm it up and put butter on it, it was delicious. My father loved the clam chowder that they also sold to go.
I’ve used that Fannie Farmer recipe for many years. I usually add raisins, and also make a date & nut roll variation. I serve it warm with a choice of butter or softened cream cheese, usually when I’m entertaining at Christmas time.
Sounds like cake to me. xD Here in Norway, this is what we make coarse bread from: whole-wheat flour (wholemeal or graham flour), whole-rye flour, sifted rye, wheat meal, syrup or honey, butter (or oil), yeast and water.
In the late 70s my dad was a truck driver for a company in southern California named holly sugar. The area we lived in was where my mom grew up in imperial county. It was a town named brawley down by salton sea. Well that area was huge on three things. Agriculture,cattle culture and off roading culture. They grew lots of sugar beets there. Well one of the things the company made from their sugar refining process was molasses. That's what my dad hauled. Big tanks of molasses. It was sent to animal feed companies as an additive. But the weird part was it was awesome molasses that could have easily been sold in stores. Very pure and tasty. There were times my pops would jump on the tank and scoop out a few jars to bring home. Nothing the company would miss. Maybe a gallon at most. We used it for baking on pancakes and waffles.my uncle put it in his coffee. My aunt used to also make molasses chew candy. It was so good. I've had brown bread and it's good. My mom made it but she'd add raisins for a bit more sweetness and nutritional value for me bro and sis. A slice of brown bread with butter, yummy.
Please never stip doing RU-vid. I just love it so much. You're such a wonderful and witty person! Love the mix of history, cooking and a healthy dose of humor!
