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Dessert

Sago Jelly

A dessert made by boiling sago, adding raspberry syrup, and setting the mixture in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,964 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Sago Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Boil the sago in 3½ pints of water until ready.

  2. Let it cool, then add ½ pint of raspberry syrup.

  3. Pour the mixture into a shape rinsed in cold water.

Set and serve

  1. Allow it to set until firm enough to turn out.

  2. Serve with a little cream around it, if desired.

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. Syrup + creamtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Tea + raspberrytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together61 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-beta-ionone (floral).

  3. Raspberry + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,332 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Raspberry + syruptop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together377 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Tea + creamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together463 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Sago
Its starch thickens as it cools, giving the jelly its body and firm set.
Raspberry syrup
Provides the main flavour and sweetness, and colours the jelly.

The step that matters

Allow it to set until firm enough to turn out. Sago starch thickens and gels as it cools. If the jelly is turned out before it has fully set, it will lose its shape and slump.

Swap the raspberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tea, syrup, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits about as well
  3. Peachfits about as well
  4. Raspberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tea, syrup, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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