A New England Tradition

Before moving to Massachusetts, I thought everyone ate baked beans and brown bread on Saturday night. And so, the first time I visited friends in Boston on a Saturday, I fully expected to be hit by the smell of beans baking and bread steaming when I stepped over the threshold. As it turned out, if I was counting on a traditional New England meal, I was hundreds of years too late.

It was the Puritans who ate baked beans and brown bread for supper on Saturday night and again for lunch on Sunday. Frugal to a fault and prohibited from cooking on the Sabbath, they created a meal from molasses-sweetened beans sometimes baked in the local tavern’s oven and brown bread, also with molasses, steamed in tall containers in large fireplaces.

Because wheat did not grow well in New England, but rye and corn thrived, the breads were made with a combination of rye flour and cornmeal. Sometimes raisins and other dried fruit were added to the batter. The bread was the kind of recipe that lent itself to timely updating that was not lost on home bakers. 

In our date-pecan version, cornmeal is used, but all-purpose flour replaces rye flour. The loaf is sweetened with molasses and sugar, which even if available, would have been too pricey for most Colonial cooks. And instead of steaming it in a can over boiling water, we've taken the easy way and baked it in a loaf pan. No doubt the Puritans would love it.

Date Nut Brown Bread

Photo by Mark Boughton; styling by Teresa Blackburn

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Here’s a take on Boston Brown Bread: baked, not steamed, but with molasses and cornmeal like the original. The dates offer plenty of richness without any added fat—in other words, pure heaven. To make in cans, double the recipe and bake in 3 (4 1⁄2 cup-capacity) cans for about 1 hour.

Ingredients

2 cups finely chopped pitted dates (about 10 ounces)
1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup unsulfured molasses
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg, at room temperature
2⁄3 cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup toasted pecan halves, chopped

Instructions

1. Mix dates, milk, butter and molasses in a medium saucepan over medium heat; stir until butter melts and mixture begins to simmer. Remove from heat, transfer to a large bowl, and cool to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 325F. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
3. Stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl; set aside.
4. Whisk the egg, sugar, and vanilla until blended well. Add to date mixture; stir well. Add pecans and flour mixture to date mixture; stir until well-blended. Spoon into prepared loaf pan.
5. Bake 1 hour and 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of loaf comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack 15 minutes. Serves 12.

Recipe by Bruce Winstein and Mark Scarbrough, "Hot Dates," New American Farmers, November 2007.

Nutritional Information

Per serving: 330 calories, 13g fat, 5g prot.,54g carbs., 4g fiber, 210mg sodium.

Related Stories

• Boston Baked Beans
• Cornmeal Classic
• Big Breakfast, Tiny State
• Hot Dates
• Dates and Nuts: A Perfect Marriage

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