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Dessert

Sago Pudding

A custard-like dessert made with sago, milk, butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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

Make the sago base

  1. Wash the sago and add it to a quart of milk.

  2. Cook slowly until the sago looks clear, stirring often.

  3. Add the butter and set aside to cool.

Bake and serve

  1. Beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla extract.

  2. Add the egg mixture to the cooled sago mixture.

  3. Bake until the custard is set.

  4. Serve cold with your choice of sauce.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  4. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 thickens the milk as it cooks, giving the pudding its body.
Eggs
Set during baking to bind the pudding into a custard.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the sago cooks in and the custard sets from.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps keep the custard tender.

The step that matters

Cook the sago until clear. Sago must cook long enough to lose its starchy white core, or it stays chalky and firm. Slow cooking with frequent stirring keeps the milk from scorching while the starch fully gelatinises.

“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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