Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Sago, or Tapioca Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Soak the sago or tapioca in 2 cups of milk for 30 minutes.
Beat the eggs well in a mixing bowl.
Bake
Combine the soaked sago or tapioca, beaten eggs, and sugar in a pudding dish.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until set, about 30-40 minutes.
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.
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 or tapioca
- Starch that swells in the milk and thickens the pudding as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Coagulate as they bake, setting the pudding into a soft, sliceable custard.
- Milk
- Liquid that hydrates the starch and gives the pudding its creamy moisture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the mild, plain flavour of the milk and eggs.
The step that matters
Bake until just set. Eggs set through gentle heat, and overbaking pushes them past that point, making the pudding grainy, watery or rubbery. Check for a slight wobble in the centre and stop there, since it firms further as it cools.
“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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