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Sago Soup

A light soup made with sago pearls, stock, milk, cream, and egg yolks, seasoned with bay leaf, sugar, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Sago Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. In a stewpan, combine the stock and bay leaf; bring to a boil.

  2. Sprinkle in the sago and cook gently for 20 minutes, or until transparent.

  3. Add the milk, a pinch of sugar, salt, and pepper; simmer for a few more minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Beat the egg yolks and cream together, then stir into the soup until it thickens, avoiding boiling.

  2. Remove the bay leaf and serve.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

  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).

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
Swells and turns transparent as it cooks, thickening the soup and giving it a silky body.
Egg yolks
Thicken the soup as they set gently, adding richness and a smooth texture.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, softening the flavor and smoothing the texture.
Milk
Adds moisture and mild sweetness, rounding out the stock.

The step that matters

Stirring in the egg yolks and cream. If the soup boils after the yolks go in, the egg proteins scramble and curdle, leaving a grainy texture instead of a smooth, thickened soup. Keep the heat low and stir steadily.

“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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