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Dessert

Sago Pudding

A sweet pudding made from sago, milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Sago Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the sago

  1. Soak the sago in water for 30 minutes.

Cook the pudding

  1. In a saucepan, bring the milk to a boil.

  2. Add the soaked sago and cook until transparent, stirring frequently.

  3. In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together.

  4. Gradually add the hot sago mixture to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.

  5. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook for 5 minutes, stirring continuously.

  6. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.

  7. Pour into serving dishes and let cool before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sago
Swells and turns translucent as it cooks, giving the pudding its body and chewy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the sago cooks in, adding creaminess and richness.
Eggs
Thicken the pudding when gently heated, adding structure and richness to the custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps tenderise the egg mixture.

The step that matters

Tempering the eggs. Adding hot sago mixture to the eggs too quickly can scramble them. Adding it gradually while stirring constantly warms the eggs evenly so they thicken smoothly.

“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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